§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average number of hours that lone parents in receipt of income related benefits work per week in Portsmouth. [69852]
§ Angela EagleThe administration of income related benefits is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 15 February 1999:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the average number of hours is that lone parents in receipt of income related benefits work per week in Portsmouth.The information requested is only partially available. The main income related benefits for working families are Family Credit (FamC) and Disability Working Allowance (DWA). Details are available from a 5 per cent. sample of claims in payment for FamC and a 100 per cent. scan of the DWA claims in payment. The latest information available is for August 1998 and shows that the average number of hours worked are 24 for FamC and 25 for DWA.There are other income related benefits which families may receive, notably Income Support, Housing Benefit, and Council Tax Benefit. Unfortunately details of the number of hours worked cannot be obtained.I am also able to inform you that the scan of FamC and DWA cases indicated that there were approximately 1,400 lone parents receiving FamC (rounded to the nearest 100) and 29 receiving DWA in the Portsmouth Local Authority District.I hope that you find the above information useful.