30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the reduction in public expenditure, if child benefit were paid only to households with a gross income of £13,000 per annum or less and for the first two children only.
About £3·1 billion after allowing for associated extra expenditure of around £185 million on income-related benefits.
40.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about single parent child benefit.
One-parent benefit is paid in addition to child benefit to a person responsible for bringing up children on his or her own. One-parent benefit provides a worthwhile addition to the income of a lone parent who is working and not dependant on income support. It is now 12 per cent. higher in real terms than in 1979.