Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Lord Field of Birkenhead (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 February 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 2 March 2000. It was answered by Hugh Bayley (Labour) on Thursday, 2 March 2000 on behalf of the Department of Social Security.

Dept of Social Security

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, if he will list the average number of children in single parent families claiming income support/supplementary benefit for each of the last 30 years. - Inc table.
Answer

Mr. Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the average number of children in single parent families claiming income support/ supplementary benefit for each of the last 30 years. [112158] Mr. Bayley: The information is in the table. Average number of children in supplementary benefit/income support lone parent families, 1969-99 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Average number of children 1969 1.95 1970 1.93 1971 1.97 1972 1.92 1973 n/a 1974 1.94 1975 1.90 1976 1.89 1977 1.85 1978 1.80 1979 1.76 1980 1.73 1981 1.68 1982 1.69 1983 1.66 1984 1.65 1985 n/a 1986 1.64 1987 1.65 1988 1.68 1989 1.65 1990 1.68 1991 1.68 1992 1.69 1993 1.70 1994 1.72 1995 1.73 1996 1.74 1997 1.76 1998 1.77 1999 May 1.78 1999 November (latest) 1.79 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Notes: 1. Lone parents are classified as single claimants with dependants who are not receiving the disability or pensioner premium. Children are classified as aged 0-15 years. 2. The average number of children per lone parent family, is based on the Income Support lone parent caseload as a proportion of the total number of children in such families. 3. Average number of children figures have been rounded to 2 decimal places. 4. All numbers are given at a point in time. For 1969-74 and 1977-79 the month was November, for 1975-76 and 1980-84 the month was December, for 1986 the month was February, and for 1987 to the present time the month was May. 5. n/a = information not available. 6. Supplementary Benefit was replaced by Income Support in 1988. Sources: Income Support Statistics Annual Enquiries, 1969 to 1993. Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiries, 1994 to 1999.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
345 c353-4W; 112158
Session
1999-00
Subjects
Children Income support Recipients Lone parents Social security benefits Supplementary benefits
Contains statistics
Yes