§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the expenditure on the Working Families Tax Credit was(a) for each month since October 1999 and (b) for the period April to October 1999, (i) in total, (ii) minus the projected expenditure on Family Credit, (iii) minus the savings on Council Tax Benefit and (iv) minus the savings on Housing Benefit; [122392]
(2) pursuant to his answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe) 15 May 2000, Official Report, column 47W, what is the average amount by which other benefits have been reduced for families with incomes of less than £12,000 as a result of the Working Families Tax Credit. [122988]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answers 16 and 19 May 2000]Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) and Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) were introduced on 5 October 1999. Total expenditure on these tax credits in 1999–2000 is estimated at £0.9 billion, but reliable estimates for each month are not available.
Given the difference in income rules in relation to maintenance, and the fact that it is not possible to isolate behavioural effects (such as the number of families who may have entered work or increased their hours because WFTC provides a more generous work incentive than Family Credit), it is not possible to determine how much would have been spent on FC in 1999–2000 had WFTC not been introduced.
The receipt of Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) cannot be determined from information processed for applications for WFTC. The receipt of WFTC by families in receipt of HB and CTB, and hence the saving in HB and CTB for these families, can be determined from the information processed for claims for those benefits. However, for some families the award of WFTC, together with other income available, will mean that there is no entitlement to HB or CTB. The general level of saving on HB and CTB for these families can only be estimated using household survey data on families receiving WFTC. Such data will become available, in sufficient sample numbers to yield reliable estimates, at some time from the second half of 2001.
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out for each financial year between April 1999 and April 2002 the gross actual and planned expenditure on(a) the working families tax credit and (b) the working families tax credit minus the savings on housing benefit and council tax benefit attributable to the working families tax credit. [123780]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 25 May 2000]The total expenditure on Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC) and the Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) in 1999–00, and the Budget projections of expenditure on these credits for 2000–01 and 2001–02, are shown at Table C12 of the March 2000 Financial Statement and Budget Report (FSBR).
No estimate for 1999–00 of the saving on Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) is yet available, for the reason given in a separate answer I am today giving my right hon. Friend. I understand from the 460W Department of Social Security that the projections of expenditure on HB and CTB in the FSBR were net of the following savings attributable to WFTC.
£ million 2000–01 100 2001–02 115
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of recipients of the child care tax credit in WFTC who do not use eligible child care. [124937]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe child care tax credit in Working Families' Tax Credit can only be claimed by people who pay for eligible child care.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the child care tax credit will relate to the reformed employment tax credit and integrated child credit. [124938]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe child care tax credit is an integral part of the Working Families' Tax Credit, and provides help with child care costs for parents who are working. It will continue to provide help with child care costs for working parents in the new generation of tax credits. The precise position of the child care tax credit within the new tax credits depends on detailed design of the new generation of credits, on which decisions have not yet been made.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families are in receipt of the child care tax credit in the Working Families Tax Credit and Disabled Person's Tax Credit in each(a) parliamentary constituency and (b) local authority. [124986]
§ Dawn PrimaroloIt is estimated that about 103,000 families benefited from the child care tax credit among the 1.03 million families with awards of the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) made to the end of March in the United Kingdom.
There are too few cases in the 5 per cent. sample used for the analysis of WFTC awards to provide reliable estimates for each parliamentary constituency or local authority. However, estimates of the total number of WFTC awards made to the end of March in each parliamentary constituency are in tables which have been deposited in the Library following my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Mr. Marsden) on 17 April 2000, Official Report, column 370W.