HC Deb 25 May 2000 vol 350 cc585-6W
Mr. Pike

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received about working families tax credit; what plans he has to make changes in the working families tax credit system; and if he will make a statement. [123280]

Dawn Primarolo

In the Budget, the Government announced their intention to build on the success of WFTC by introducing an integrated child credit and an employment tax credit from 2003.

The integrated child credit will bring together the support for children in WFTC and IS/JSA and the new Children's Tax Credit to create one payment to the main carer. This will create a seamless and transparent system of support for children which will further help to deliver the Government's commitment to end child poverty within a generation.

The adult credit element of WFTC will, along with the Disabled Person's Tax Credit and the Employment Credit component of the New Deal 50 plus, form the foundation of a new employment tax credit which will extend the principle of WFTC to people without children. Paid through the wage packet the employment tax credit will form a single visible instrument, underpinned by the national minimum wage, to make work pay.

The budget paper, "Tackling Poverty and Making Work Pay—Tax Credits for the 21st Century", sets out this next stage of reform in more detail.

We have received a number of representations regarding the development of the new credits and we will continue to discuss the proposed reforms with interested parties.

Mr. Field

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 19 May 2000,Official Report, column 294W, on poverty, if the figure of £2.7 billion extra financial support for children from the working families tax credit given in chart 5.2 of the March 2000 Economic and Fiscal Strategy report includes expenditure on the disabled person's tax credit. [123855]

Dawn Primarolo

The figure for the extra financial support delivered through the Working Families Tax Credit includes the additional expenditure on the Disabled person's Tax Credit for families with children.