§ 7 Mr. WattsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many families currently in receipt of family income supplement will receive an increase in benefit following the introduction of family credit.
§ The Minister for Social Security and the Disabled (Mr. Nicholas Scott)Almost all families in receipt of family income supplement are expected to receive a cash increase when family credit is introduced.
§ Mr. WattsDoes my hon. Friend agree that these impressive figures are a vindication of the policy of concentrating resources on low-income families, rather than spreading them thinly through increases in child benefit, which benefit the better off most of all? Will he tell the House how many families will receive an increase of more than £5 a week when family credit is introduced?
§ Mr. ScottI agree with my hon. Friend's comments. We shall be spending over £300 million extra on low-income families as we move to the new system of benefits, when 240,000 families will benefit by more than £5 a week.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyDoes my hon. Friend agree that this important benefit, which was first introduced by my noble Friend Lord Joseph, does much to remove families from the indignity of being better off out of work than they are in it? Does he agree that the particularly important modifications that he has introduced give greater recognition to the needs of teenage children, which is a matter on which the poverty lobby has campaigned for a long time?
§ Mr. ScottI am sure that the benefit is a major improvement and will be of particular help in the sectors that my hon. Friend has identified. We want it to be available to as many people as possible after the changeover.