asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what the number is of supplementary benefit two-parent families in which the wife is the only or main breadwinner.

The information available about working wives is in the form of ranges of amounts earned rather than whether they are employed full-time or not. In November 1978 there were about 8,000 wives earning £18 a week or more and about 21,000 earning less that that amount. "Social Assistance", the report by officials on the supplementary benefit review, quoted an estimate that in November 1977 some 9,000 wives were working full-time.