Lone Parents (Hansard, 19 July 1993)

§ Mr. Cousins
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether the guidelines for withholding benefit under the Child Support Act 1991 could result in parents of dependent lone parents losing benefit.

§ Mr. Burt
No. A lone parent who is classed as a child for income support purposes, and whose own parents are paid benefit for her and her child, is not required to authorise action to seek maintenance.

§ Mr. Cousins
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of lone parents in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne; and how many income support claimants are lone parents.

§ Mr. Burt
The number of lone parents with dependent children within the metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne is 9,000¹.
Records are not kept of the number of lone parents on income support in individual locations. However, the total number of lone parents on income support in GreatBritain is 985,000²; and the total number of lone parents in Great Britain is 1.24 million¹.
¹ Source1991 Population Census— Provisional estimates.
² SourceIncome Support Annual Statistical Enquiry 1992.