§ Mr. Newtonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services on what assumption he calculates the cost of the tax credit scheme to be £5,000 million; and whether he will provide a detailed breakdown of how this figure is arrived at.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonI have been asked to reply.
The estimate has been arrived at on the basis of the same broad assumptions as those made in the Conservative Government's Green Paper "Proposals for a Tax-Credit System" (Cmnd. 5116, October 1972). In order to achieve the social objectives of the Green Paper scheme in the current tax year, the value of the credits now required would be just over £8, £12 and £4 a week for single people, married couples and children respectively. Credits at about these levels would pro- 658W duce a total current cost of approximately £5,000 million.