§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will publish a table setting out the number of people who have taken up the disregard in family credit to meet part of the cost of child care, as announced in the Budget, divided between(a) male and female claimants and (b) those who were already in work before the introduction of this reform and those who have moved from unemployment into paid employment since its introduction; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will publish an estimate of the number of people who have taken up the disregard in family credit to meet part of the cost of child care, as announced in the Budget; what his estimate is of the average additional amount of family credit which they will each receive; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BurtWe plan to introduce the child care disregard from 4 October 1994. Our best estimates are that about 150,000 families will benefit from it, of whom about 100,000 will already be in paid work and about 50,000 will move into work of 16 hours or more. The extent of additional help will depend in individual cases on earnings, on the cost of the child care and on whether family credit is received alone or in combination with housing benefit and council tax benefit.
§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table setting out his estimates of the cost in 1994–95 of the disregard in family credit to meet part of the cost of child care, as announced in the Budget, as it affects(a) expenditure on family credit, (b) total expenditure on social security, including any offsetting reductions in spending on other benefits and (c) the public sector borrowing requirement, including any offsetting reductions in spending in other areas and any increase in tax revenues; and if he will make a statement.