§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what proportion of households in Wales in which state benefits are the main source of income do not have a telephone; [9358]
(2) what proportion of households in Wales do not have a telephone; [9356]
(3) what proportion of pensioner households in Wales do not have a telephone. [9357]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesInformation on telephone access in Wales is available from two different sample surveys; the Department of Social Security's family resources survey and the Office for National Statistics' family expenditure survey.
Based on the former, 13 per cent. of households in Wales did not have a telephone in 1994–95. The corresponding figure for households where state benefits accounted for more than half of gross weekly household income was 23 per cent. For households where the head of household was over the state retirement age the figure was 12 per cent.
From the latter, the estimate of the proportion of Welsh households without a telephone was 10 per cent. in 1995–96. This survey has a smaller sample size than the former and so these estimates are less reliable, particularly for smaller sub-groups.