§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the numbers of lone parents in(a) 1980, (b) 1985, (c) 1990 and (d) 1995 in each region and nation, together with an estimate of what proportion of families with children such lone parents represent; and what proportion are (i) under 18 years, (ii) under 25 years, (iii) 26 to 40 years and (iv) 40 years and above. [26942]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 3 February 1998.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to your question on numbers of lone parents.577WEstimates of the number of lone parents are not regularly available by region and nation, although estimates of the number of one-parent families with dependent children, OPFs, in Great Britain have been made:
1980 1985 1990 1995 Number of OPFs (thousands) 830 970 1,230 11,570 OPFs as a percentage of all families with dependent children 12 14 18 22 1 Provisional estimate. Estimate of the numbers of one-parent families in the countries, regions, and counties of Great Britain in 1991, derived from census data, were published in Population Trends, 78 (Table 8, page 15)a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.
The available information on the age profiles of lone parents is as follows (based on 1992–95 data for Great Britain):
Percentages Age group Lone mothers Lone fathers 16–19 2 1 16–24 16 2 25–39 59 34 40–59 25 64