asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of those entitled to one-parent benefit who would benefit from receiving it do not claim it; and how much one-parent benefit, in money terms, is not claimed as a result.

Provisional figures for Great Britain for December 1981 indicate that about 30 per cent. of persons who would gain from receiving one-parent benefit had not claimed it. This represents unclaimed benefit of the order of £25 million in the present financial year.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the incidence of single parents in each local authority with social services responsibility in England.

The only information currently available for each area of the country is that from the 1981 census relating to numbers of private households in which there were usually resident only one person aged 16 years or over plus one or more children aged under 16. Most of such households comprise one-parent families. However, it is estimated that for the country as a whole such households account for just under one half of all one-parent families.1981 Census: households comprising only one person aged 16 or over, plus one or more children under 16 for metropolitan counties and districts, London boroughs and non-metropolitan counties in England.