HC Deb 01 April 1998 vol 309 cc554-5W
Mr. Nicholas Winterton

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the dates and rates of each petrol and diesel fuel excise duty increase since 1992 and the increase in the RPI which occurred between each of those increases. [35514]

Dawn Primarolo

The table sets out road fuel excise duty rates since 1991 together with the increases in RPI which occurred between changes.

Mr. Gibb

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the estimate by the Institute for Fiscal Studies relating to the cost of the proposed child care tax credit, assuming full take-up of the benefit. [36354]

Dawn Primarolo

[holding answer 24 March 1998]: A number of the Government's policies will make profound changes to the availability and affordability of child care over the next few years. The £300 million of extra resources for out-of-school child care provision, the child care tax credit and the rest of the Working Families Tax Credit, the New Deals to help people into work, and the rest of the National Childcare Strategy will all help to make quality childcare available and affordable for more parents. In this context, estimates of the cost of the childcare tax credit are subject to a wider degree of uncertainty than usual.

The Exchequer cost arising from replacing Family Credit with the Working Families Tax Credit is shown in line 1 of Table C.l of the Financial Statement and Budget Report (HC620). The share of that cost accounted for by the childcare tax credit is £50 million in 1999–2000 and £250 million in 2000–01 (the first full year of the tax credit).

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