§ 36. Mrs. Irene AdamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on his proposals to enable single women with children to take up employment opportunities. [68909]
§ Ms HodgeFor the first time lone parents are being given the same work opportunities as everyone else. The New Deal for Lone Parents, which became available nationwide on 26 October 1998, offers all lone parents on Income Support a personal adviser service to help them overcome the barriers to employment.
334WThe support available includes help and advice with looking for a job, accessing training opportunities, finding child care and information about benefits.
We have committed £470 million to the National Childcare Strategy to help us realise our vision of high quality, affordable child care available in every neighbourhood, enabling parents to take up opportunities of work, education or training.
We are also committed to ensuring that the tax and benefits system takes account of the specific difficulties and extra costs some families face on account of their children. The introduction of the Working Families Tax Credit incorporating child care tax credit in October this year will provide £4.3 billion of help to around 1.4 million working families.