§ Mr. Fabian HamiltonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will review the tax system with a view to removing measures which disadvantage single earner families where the wife remains at home to look after children. [89894]
§ Dawn PrimaroloAll aspects of the tax system are kept under review and the Chancellor has announced a range of measures in his Budgets benefiting single earner families, in which one partner stays at home to look after children. They include the Working Families' Tax Credit from October 1999 and the new children's tax credit from April 2001. In addition, he has announced substantial increases in Child Benefit, the first of which took effect in April 1999. As a result of the measures announced, a single earner family on average male earnings with two children will be £460 a year better off.