§ 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 (A) female and (B) male parent 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. [165864]
§ Mr. BoatengThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Edward Leigh, dated 19 April 2004:
As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what percentage of (a) families with dependent children are headed by (i) married couples, (ii) cohabiting couples and (iii) a lone (A) female and (B) male parent 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. (165864) Figures from the 2001 Census indicate that there were 6,376,140 couple or lone parent families in England and Wales. The percentage of those families which were headed by (i) a married couple, (ii) a cohabiting couple, (iii) a male lone parent or (iv) a female lone parent are shown in the table below. All information has been taken from table S006 in the Census 2001 National report for England and Wales., which is available in the House of Commons Library.
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Families with dependent children, by family type England and Wales, 2001 Census Family type Percentage of families Married or re-married couple 63.03 Cohabiting couple 11.64 Lone male parent 2.55 Lone female parent 22.78 Source: Table S006 Census 2001 National report for England and Wales. Figures from the 2001 Census indicate that there were 11,539,432 dependent children living in families in England and Wales. The percentage of those families which were headed by (i) a married couple, (ii) a cohabiting couple, (iii) a lone parent are shown in the table below. All information has been taken from table T01 in the Census 2001 National report for England and Wales, which is available in the House of Commons Library.
Dependent children in families, by family type England and Wales, 2001 Census Family type Percentage of Children Married or re-married couple 65.77 Cohabiting couple 11.08 Lone parent 23.15 Source: Table T01 Census 2001 National report for England and Wales. Analysis of the Census figures has been undertaken in the latest edition of Population Trends 115 (pages 65–69). The published volume is available in the House of Commons Library and also on the National Statistics website at:http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/themejpopulation/PT115.pdfInformation on how many dependent children live with (1) a parent who has never married, (2) a widowed parent, (3) a divorced parent or (4) a separated parent is not currently available from the 2001 Census for England and Wales. However, an analysis, based on results from the General Household Survey for Great Britain in 2000, estimated that, of all dependent children living in families: 9.1 per cent. were living with a never-married lone mother; 0.7 per cent. with a widowed lone mother; 7.1 per cent. with a divorced lone mother; and 5.1 per cent. with a separated lone mother. Corresponding estimates were not made for the proportions of all dependent children living in families who were living in lone father families, because of small sample numbers. Overall, 2.6 per cent. of all dependent children living in families were living in lone father families. These estimates are not comparable with those from the 2001 Census, since they relate to a different time, and cover the whole of Great Britain rather than England and Wales. The full results, published in an article in Population Trends 109, are available in the House of Commons Library and may also be seen on the National Statistics website at:http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/PT109.pdf