§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many children were living in families dependent on benefit in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. BurtFamilies with children may be assisted by a number of social security benefits, and may receive more than one benefit at a time. Child benefit is available for all children regardless of income and is currently payable for 12.5 million children in nearly 7 million families. The number of children in families receiving the main income-related benefits for each year since 1979 are in the table. The number of children in families receiving widowed mothers allowance are also shown. For the purposes of the information in the table, children are defined as aged under 16 years or aged 16 to 19 years and in full-time education.
291W
Year Widowed mother's allowance Supplementary benefit/Income support Family income supplement/Family credit Housing benefit Community charge benefit 1992 80 2,874 829 2,477 3,187 1993 80 3,207 993 n/a n/a Notes:
1. Figures are in thousands and are rounded to the nearest 1,000.
2. Families can be receiving more than one benefit at the same time.
3. No information is available for widowed mother's allowance and family income supplement in 1980 due to changes in the way statistics were published.
4. No information is available for supplementary benefit in 1985 because no annual statistical inquiry was carried out due to industrial action.
5. The 1988 and 1989 information for housing benefit and community charge benefit relates to cases without income support.