§ Sir Ian GilmourTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish figures showing the amounts by which child benefit could be increased at no extra cost, if(a) the proposed extra £2 for first children were distributed evenly between all children and (b) third and subsequent children received £1 a week more than first and second children.
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 22 April 1991]: The £1 increase in April 1991 for the eldest eligible child is estimated to cost some £250 million. The full-year cost of increasing that rate by a further £1 in October will be some £355 million. If this £605 million were redistributed in the ways suggested, without carrying them through into income-related benefits, the rate for (a) all children would be £8.60 compared with £9.25 for the eldest eligible child and £7.50 for all other children from October, and (b) that for first and second children would be £8.45 and for third and subsequent children, £9.45.