§ 3. Mr. Lilleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether child benefit has increased in real terms between April 1979 and November 1983.
§ The Secretary of State for Social Services (Mr. Norman Fowler)Yes, Sir. Child benefit is now paid at £6.50 a week, compared with £4 a week in April 1979. The value of child benefit is now higher in real terms than it has ever been.
§ Mr. LilleyI thank my right hon. Friend for that answer, which obviously conflicts with the widespread impression on the Opposition Benches. What is the current position of the additional benefit for one-parent families?
§ Mr. FowlerThat benefit rate was increased to £4.05 last November. It has more than doubled during a period when prices rose by less than 70 per cent.
§ Mr. YeoDoes my right hon. Friend agree that raising child benefit by more than the amount shown in the Autumn Statement will be the most cost-effective way of helping those suffering from the poverty trap? Will he use his best endeavours to persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to devote what resources are available in this year's Budget to raising child benefit, in preference to a cut in income tax?
§ Mr. FowlerThere is obviously a strong case for raising child benefit. I shall pass my hon. Friend's comments on to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
§ Mr. AshtonWill the Minister obtain a video recording of the "World in Action" programme last week, which showed the hon. Member for Derbyshire, West (Mr. Parris) living for a week on £26.80 and having to shop with the unemployed in Newcastle? Did not the hon. Member for Derbyshire, West say openly at the end of that week that child benefit for the unemployed was not sufficiently high and that there should be a shift of child benefit away from the rich and towards the unemployed?
§ Mr. FowlerI shall certainly take up the hon. Gentleman's first suggestion. I understand that he is advocating a differential child benefit. We shall certainly consider that suggestion, but I had not realised that it was favoured by the Opposition.
§ Mr. Frank FieldGiven the crucial importance of child benefit in increasing the freedom and control which families have over their lives, I congratulate the Government on their record. However, before Ministers become too complacent, may I remind the House that the last Labour Government injected an additional £1,500 million into the child benefit scheme? When will this Government begin to match that record?
§ Mr. FowlerWhat we shall seek to do—and I do not think there is any difference between us on this—is to increase child benefit in line with what the economy, the nation, can afford. I do not think that there is any difference between us on the importance of child benefit.