asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people have received payments of family income supplement in each year since its introduction; and what is the present number of beneficiaries.

Information in exactly the form requested is not available. The number of families receiving family income supplement at the end of each year since the introduction of the scheme is as follows:

1971	71,000
1972	82,000
1973	95,000

It is provisionally estimated that at the end of November 1974, the latest date for which information is available, 72,000 families were receiving the supplement.