HC Deb 16 October 2003 vol 411 cc253-4
10. Mr. Bill O'Brien (Normanton)

What recent measures he has taken to support families on low incomes; and if he will make a statement. [132065]

The Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo)

In April, the Government introduced the working and child tax credits. They build on the success of the working families tax credit and are additional to the real terms increases in child benefit. More than 5.8 million households are already benefiting from the new tax credits, and more than 90 per cent. of the families are expected to benefit in 2003–04.

As a result of these and other measures introduced since 1997, families with children in the poorest fifth of the population are on average nearly £50 a week better off in real terms.

Mr. O'Brien

I thank my right hon. Friend for her reply and congratulate her and her colleagues in the Treasury on their splendid work in helping low income families. Is she aware of an anomaly that applies to the Child Support Agency? When an absent parent starts a second family and receives family tax credit, it is considered as income whereas when the parent with care receives it, it is considered as non-income. Different principles apply to the two examples. Will she have a word with her colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions to erase the anomaly of an uneven application of family tax credit to those on low incomes?

Dawn Primarolo

If I understand my hon. Friend's point correctly, I must tell him that there is no anomaly in the application of the rules. Parents are responsible for their children under CSA rules, which also provide for payment to be made. Tax credit legislation will not cut across that principle. Responsibility would be diminished if the tax credits compensated for parents paying for it. I shall check the record to ensure that I understood my hon. Friend's point properly. However, it is intended that the tax credits should not cut across parents' responsibility to support their children, as determined by the CSA.

Mr. Peter Luff (Mid-Worcestershire)

How does it help families on low incomes to rig the local government financial settlement in such a way as to force county councils such as Worcestershire's to do the Chancellor's dirty work and impose massive stealth taxes through unacceptable increases in council tax?

Dawn Primarolo

As the hon. Gentleman knows, since 1997, when the Government took office, the real terms increase for every council has been greater—some 25 per cent., compared with a decrease of 7 per cent. in the last few years of the Conservative Government. He well knows that the Government's record in supporting the poorest families, for example, through support for child care and ensuring that lone parents can return to work, has contributed to the lives of people in his constituency. The shame is that the Conservative party wants to take all that away.