§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the average fall in income arising from divorce for a divorced(a) father and (b) mother with their children in (i) 1980 and (ii) 1999. [120661]
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§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Gerald Howarth, dated 3 May 2000:
The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent question asking for an estimate of the average fall in income arising from divorce for a divorced (a) father and (b) mother with their children in (i) 1980 and (ii) 1999. I am replying in the Director's absence.The ONS does not make estimates of this kind. One non-government source that allows this type of analysis is the British Household Panel Study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). This survey has followed a sample of households each year since 1991 and has information about the incomes and marital status of household members in each of these years. The Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER, formerly the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change) published an analysis showing the effect of marital splits on income between 1991 and 1994. This was published in 1997 as 'Marital splits and income changes: evidence for Britain' (Working Paper 97–4). You can obtain a copy from the information officer at the ISER, tel: 01206 872938.