To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many young people without a job or YTS place have had child benefit terminated in advance of the cut-off date.

The precise information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, a study of summer school leavers in 1988 indicated that in some 1,200 cases, child benefit was terminated during the extension period (12 September 1988 to 1 January 1989) other than by reason of the child finding work or a YTS place. In 90 per cent. of those cases, the termination was because the child had reached the age of 18, the remainder being for a variety of reasons such as the child going abroad or into care.