§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many mothers he estimates will benefit from the sure start maternity grant in(a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) Shropshire in the first year of its operation; and if he will make a statement. [107256]
§ Angela EagleThe Sure Start Maternity Grant Scheme, which will replace maternity payments, commences on 27 March for parents who are expecting a baby on or after 11 June 2000. It is a grant of up to £200 per child which may be payable to claimants (or their partners) of Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) and Disabled Persons Tax Credit (DPTC).
We are unable to provide an estimate in the format requested. The Benefits Agency (BA) collates statistics by BA district office. The district boundaries do not correspond to constituency boundaries. The Shires district comprises offices at Shrewsbury, Telford, Hereford, Worcester and Kidderminster.
467WIn the last complete year for which figures are available, April 1998 to March 1999, 2,495 maternity payments were awarded in the Shires district. We predict that there will be 2,535 payments in 1999–2000. This leads us to believe that there may be 2,688 payments in 2000–001, the first year of the new scheme.