§ Mr. SquireTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many children are receiving child benefit, broken down into(a) England, Scotland and Wales and (b) the English regions and the cost of paying child benefit in each case.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe latest available information as set out in the table is for December 1988. I regret that separate figures for the English regions are not available.
England Scotland Wales Number of children 10,253,000 1,094,000 623,000 Estimated annual amount of child benefit expenditure £3,851.0m £410.9m £234.0m