§ Mr. Robin CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many applications there have been for family credit in each month since April 1988; and how many awards have been made.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe information is as follows:
1988 Claims Awards April 96,505 40,213 May 41,721 June 52,293 36,145 July 46,100 37,912 August 46,376 40,249 September 47,759 24,158 October 56,373 44,944 November 57,850 46,234 December 44,834 35,797 1989 January 63,638 42,712 February 60,318 45,180 March 68,637 47,184 April 96,752 43,300 May 123,038 39,187 June 107,276 73,778 July 66,075 50,004 August 62,397 48,158 September 80,792 54,498 October 80,670 50,510 Notes:
- 1. The figures are for the four or five weeks ending on the last Friday
320 of the month. - 2. The figures for claims received include those made to renew existing awards and those made more than four weeks before the expiry of an existing award (and therefore invalid).
§ Ms. RichardsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many and what proportion of family credit recipients are women.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardA total of 315,000 comprising over 98 per cent. Apart from lone parent families headed by a man, family credit is almost invariably paid to women, since in two-parent families the claim is made by, and payment is made to, the woman unless the circumstances are quite exceptional.
§ Ms. RichardsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing(a) the number of families and (b) the number of children receiving family credit and what proportion each makes up of those entitled to family credit.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe latest comprehensive information is for July 1989 when over 320,000 families, containing 671,000 children, were receiving family credit. Estimates of the total eligible population at that stage cannot be made until information from the 1989 family expenditure survey becomes available.