§ Mr. LeighTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of(a) families with dependent children are headed by (i) married couples, (ii) cohabiting couples and (iii) a lone parent by each type and (b) dependent children live in families which are headed by (1) a married couple, (2) a cohabiting couple, (3) a parent who has never married, (4) a widowed parent, (5) a divorced parent and (6) a separated parent. [160734]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 9 May 2001]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
435WLetter from Len Cook to Mr. Edward Leigh, dated 11 May 2001:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question about dependent children and the marital status of heads of families. (160734).Estimates of marital status and household composition are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) household datasets, which are available for the spring and autumn quarters of each year. The latest available LFS estimates of the marital status of heads of households are for the autumn (September to November) quarter of 2000 and are given in the following tables.The first table gives non-seasonally adjusted LFS estimates of families with dependent children by the marital status of the head of the family unit; the second gives estimates of dependent children by the marital status of the head of the family unit.
Table 1: Families with dependent children1 by marital status of head of family: United Kingdom, autumn 2000; not seasonally adjusted Percentage Percentage of which headed by: Married couple 67.3 Cohabiting couple 10.8 Male lone parents 2.3 Female lone parents 19.7 All families with dependent children = 100 per cent. 7,400,000 1 Dependent children are defined as all 0–15 year olds and 16–18 year olds in full-time education. Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey
Table 2: Dependent children1 by marital status of head of family: United Kingdom, autumn 2000: not seasonally adjusted Percentage Percentage of dependent children in families headed by: Married couple 70.7 Cohabiting couple 9.5 Single parent, never married 7.2 Widowed parent 1.2 Divorced parent 6.5 Separated parent 5.0 Dependent children in all family units= 100 per cent. 14,463,000 1 Dependent children are defined as all 0–15 year olds and 16–18 year olds in full-time education. Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey