§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library the responses he has so far received to his consultation on an integrated child credit set out in the Treasury Paper, "Supporting Children Through the Tax and Benefit System". [108753]
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§ Dawn PrimaroloThe Treasury receives Budget representations and letters on a range of topics, including the Integrated Child Credit. As is usual practice, it is not our intention to publish them.
§ Ms KellyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the steady-state cost of providing the childcare tax credit to all households with a child below the age of one year on the current tapers, irrespective of whether anyone is in work, assuming that households with a mother in the first(a) 18 and (b) six weeks of maternity leave are not included. [107651]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe childcare tax credit is available to families in receipt of the Working Families' Tax Credit or Disabled Persons's Tax Credit who meet the work requirements and have eligible child care costs. There are no plans to make it available to families where no-one is in work.
If a separate weekly credit of £70 were to be given to all families with a child under one, subject to a taper of 55 per cent. for net income over £90 per week, the estimated cost for 2000–01 would be about £800 million. If households with a mother in receipt of statutory maternity pay are not included, the cost would reduce by about £30 million for the first 18 weeks of maternity pay and by about £10 million for the first six weeks of maternity pay.
It has been assumed that the start of maternity pay coincides with the birth of the child, and that those mothers on Income Support would still receive the £70 credit, since statutory maternity pay is taken into account when calculating Income Support.