Written question asked by Keith Vaz (Labour) on Thursday, 14 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 26 October 2004. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Tuesday, 26 October 2004 on behalf of the Office for National Statistics.

Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Question: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many single parent households headed by (a) mothers and (b) fathers there are, broken down by ethnic group. - Inc figures, text of letter from Len Cook of ONS and ref to information placed in Library.

Answer: Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many single parent households headed by (a) mothers and (b) fathers there are, broken down by ethnic group. [192638] Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply. Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Keith Vaz, dated 26 October 2004: As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many single parent households headed by (a) mothers and (b) fathers there are, broken down by ethnic group. 192638 Figures from the 2001 Census indicate that there were 2,297,153 lone parent households in England and Wales, of which 1,979,295 households were headed by a female Household Reference Person and 317,858 households were headed by a male Household Reference Person. Specially commissioned table C0344 has been run to provide the ethnic group of the Household Reference Person. This has been placed in the House of Commons Library and can also be accessed on the National Statistics website at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/op15.asp

Secondary information