penses of the reference households provided by the income and consumption survey. […] aa) Standard needs level 1 for adult single persons or single parents in their own households is determined on the basis of the expenses of one-person households; standard needs level 2 for adults living together as a couple is calculated at 90 % and standard needs level 3 for adults who neither run their own households nor live as a couple at 80 % of standard needs level 1 […]. Standard needs levels 4 to 6 for children and adolescents are calculated from the expenses of family households […]. […] 17 18 c) The level of standard benefits is also based on the legislature’s decision to recognise as relevant not all but only certain expenses identified in the income and consumption survey. 19 aa) Only such expenses are deemed […] relevant in terms of standard needs that facilitate a modest way of life such as is led by households with a small income, and that are neither covered by other sources nor subject to a nationwide subsidy. […] 20 bb) Certain items in […] the income and consumption survey are expressly excluded […] from the calculation of standard needs or only partly taken into account. 21 (1) The standard needs for one-person households are determined on the basis of information provided by 1,678 households. […] The total expenses […] taken into account are EUR 361.81 (§ 5 RBEG). 22 (a) For the 2008 income and consumption survey, the consumption items alcohol, tobacco goods, dry cleaning, cut flowers, cash donations, court costs (fines), lawn mowers and the repair of hand-working appliances were excluded, while new items to be taken into account included maintenance and repair costs, purchase of computers, sports and camping articles, fees for courses and fees for personal identity cards. 23 (b) Other items have only partly been recognised by the legislature as relevant in terms of standard needs. […] 24 […] 25 (2) To determine what is needed to secure subsistence of children and adolescents, 523 households consisting of couples with children under the age of eighteen were taken into account, 237 for couples with children under the age of six, 184 for children between the ages of six and thirteen , and 115 households for children between the ages of 14 and 17 (Bundestag document (BTDrucks) 17/3404, pp. 144, 149, 154, 159). Since the income and consumption survey records the total consumption expenses of these households, the calculation of the needs of children and adolescents was derived from these numbers on a standardised basis. (a) Three age groups are distinguished in the calculation scheme […]. 8/29 26 27