HC Deb 17 December 1997 vol 303 cc241-2W
Mr. Alan Simpson

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will list the number of(a) male and (b) female (i) earners and (ii) benefit recipients in couples in receipt of family credit at the latest date for which information is available. [20670]

Mr. Field

The information is set out in the table.

Couples receiving family credit, by gender of main or subsequent earner, May 1997
Gender of main earner Main earner With Partner earnings Without earnings
Male 308,000 20,000 288,000
Female 98,000 11,000 87,000
All cases 406,000 31,000 375,000

Source

Family credit 5 per cent. sample of all awards.

Notes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. Figures are based on the gender of the main earner and their partner.

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many persons in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale were in receipt of family credit in each year since 1992. [19694]

Mr. Keith Bradley

The administration of Family Credit is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Gordon Prentice, dated 16 December 1997: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale were in receipt of Family Credit (FC) during each year since 1992. The information is not available in the format requested. FC is administered centrally by the Family Credit Unit. Statistics are produced on a national basis and provide the number of families in receipt of FC within a particular Benefits Agency (BA) local office area at a given date. This only serves as a "snap-shot" of the position at that date and does not indicate the number of families in receipt of FC annually. Information on FC claims is normally destroyed after 18 months. However, the information requested is currently available from 1993 onwards and the figures for the two BA local offices within this area are as follows:

April Burnley Rossendale
1993 2,933 782
1994 3,393 864
1995 3,936 910
1996 4,171 800
1997 4,575 665

Figures are provisional and subject to change.

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