asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report a table expressing family allowances for a one, two, three, four and five-child family as (a) a percentage of average earnings, and (b) a percentage of the social assistance rate paid to a single adult in each of the EEC countries.

In April 1976, the latest date for which average earnings figures are available for Great Britain, family allowances represented 2·09 per cent. of average earnings for a two-child family, 4·18 per cent. for a three-child family, 6·27 per cent. for a four-child family and 8·36 per cent. for a five-child family. Family allowances were not payable for a one-child family, but child interim benefit, payable to a single-parent