The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 31 January 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your request for how many dependent children living with (a) married couples and (b) single mothers there were in the second quarter of each year in households in the UK from 1997 to 2006. (183624)
The number of dependent children living in UK households by family type can be estimated using the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Estimates for the second quarter of the requested years are shown in the Table 1.
Thousand Family type 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Married couples 9,537 — 9,171 — 8,959 8,791 8,721 8,565 8,501 8,387 Female lone parents 2,514 — 2,698 — 2,694 2,813 2,803 2,809 2,812 2,830 Note: Comparable estimates are not currently available for 1998 and 2000.