asked the Secretary of State for the Environment from what source and from what date the number of lone-parent families are arrived at for each of the Metropolitan districts in England.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 31st July 1978], gave the following information:The numbers of lone-parent families used in the 1978–79 rate support grant distribution are derived for all authorities from the 1971 Census. In the 1978–79 consultations with the local authority associations, it was agreed to abandon the use of most of the 1971 Census factors, However, for the factors covering lone-parent families and housing lacking the basic amenities, analysis of the 1966–71 inter-censal changes showed that the relative incidence of these factors in authorities did not change significantly. It was therefore agreed to continue to test both factors, there being no better data available.