HL Deb 02 March 2000 vol 610 cc109-10WA
The Countess of Mar

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the statement by Baroness Hollis of Heigham (H.L. Deb., 16 February, col. 1301) that "75 per cent of the illnesses of the children of lone parents are respiratory related and correlated with their parents' smoking", what is the correlation with exposure to moulds and fungi, dust, poor nutrition, stress and lack of sleep in this group of children. [HL1145]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)

Such information as is available is set out below.

There is consistent evidence of an association between damp and mouldy housing and reports of respiratory symptoms in children. However, this association is not at present attributable to any specific fungi or bacteria in the air. Research is being carried out in this area and on the health effects of dust particles. Analysis of some factors related to wheezing in children in lone parent households was included in chapter 5 of The Health Survey for England: The Health of Young People '95–97, a copy of which is available in the Library.

The 1996 English House Condition Survey estimates that nearly 59 per cent of the children of lone parents who smoke and live in homes with mould growth suffer from respiratory illnesses, compared to 39 per cent of such children in homes with no mould growth. The equivalent percentages for children where no person smokes in the home are 49 per cent and 37 per cent respectively.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP), in its report published in 1992 Smoking and the young, found that passive smoking is causally associated with additional episodes and increased severity of asthma in children who already have the disease. It goes on to say that there is little doubt that asthma is related to exposure to maternal smoking.

What Happens to Lone Parents by Ford, Marsh & Finalyson (1998) found that over the period of the study, one-quarter of lone parents who responded had at least one child suffer long-term illness, 8 per cent had two or more ill. Nearly 70 per cent of the reported health conditions of the first or only ill child in the household were respiratory problems (most likely asthma). The second most common condition for children was nervous disorders (epilepsy).

Our report, Opportunity for All—Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion (1999), includes the following: Over one in four unemployed lone parents with infants live in poor housing, compared with 14 per cent of the population as a whole. Damp, inadequate heating and overcrowding are associated with general ill health and respiratory disorders, accidental injury and emotional problems. Children in low-income families are disproportionately more likely to suffer from poor health and live in worse environments".