§ 31. Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to assist parents with the costs of bringing up children. [93782]
§ Angela EagleWe recognise the additional costs that families with children have to bear. As part of our strategy to increase opportunity for all, we are determined to improve family prosperity, reduce child poverty, and ensure that the tax and benefit system properly acknowledges the costs of bringing up children.
Measures already announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the last two Budgets, including the largest-ever uprating of Child Benefit, and the introduction of the Working Families Tax Credit, will ensure that families with children will gain an average of £750 per year the 20 per cent. of poorest households will gain the most, an average of £1,080 per year.
Total growth in spending on families with children will amount to an extra £5 billion a year in real terms, by the end of this Parliament.