HC Deb 08 November 2000 vol 356 c274W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many(a) families and (b) children in Hull have benefited from the working families tax credit; what is the total weekly sum involved; what estimate he has made of the number of families which are entitled to apply and have not done so; what further steps he plans to bring this entitlement to their attention; and if he will make a statement. [135593]

Dawn Primarolo

Estimates of the number of families in each local authority in receipt of the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) at the end of May, based on a 5 per cent. sample of awards, are shown at Table 9.3 in the WFTC Quarterly Inquiry for May 2000. A copy has been placed in the Library.

The Inquiry also gives the average value of awards to families in the Yorkshire and the Humber Government Office Region. There are too few sample cases to provide reliable estimates of average awards, or of total expenditure, at the local authority level.

We started a new phase of advertising for WFTC on 23 October, which includes national television, national and regional press, radio and advertising in women's and television magazines. This campaign will be running in the Hull area as in all other areas of the UK.

Dr. Godman

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many(a) families and (b) children in Inverclyde have benefited from the working families tax credit; what is the total weekly sum involved; what estimate he has made of the number of families which are entitled to apply and have not done so; what initiatives he has undertaken to bring this source of income to their notice; and if he will make a statement. [135925]

Dawn Primarolo

For the number of families benefiting from WFTC in Inverclyde, and for details of the current advertising campaign, I refer my hon. Friend to my answer given above to my hon. Friend the Member for Hull, North (Mr. McNamara).

There are too few sample cases to provide reliable estimates at the local authority level of total expenditure on WFTC, or of the number of children in families in receipt of WFTC. The WFTC Quarterly Inquiry for May 2000 gives the average number of children per family in receipt of WFTC in Scotland at that date is estimated at 1.8.