To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the uptake of family credit in (a) the Liverpool area and (b) other areas in the north-west.

The latest available information about the families receiving family credit who, at the time their award was made, were living in the areas concerned is as follows:

(a) In the areas covered by the local social security offices in Liverpool—5,600;

(b) In the areas covered by all the local social security offices in the Department of Social Security's North Western Region—56,000.

Information about the total number of families eligible for family credit can be obtained only for Great Britain, and only retrospectively, from the family expenditure survey data.