§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost of paying the bereavement allowance to all men widowed between 6 April 1994 and 5 April 2000; and if he will make a statement.[138103]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 14 November 2000]: The Inland Revenue does not generally hold information on whether men are widowed and therefore any costing is very approximate. We estimate the cost of extending the widow's bereavement allowance to men retrospectively for the tax years 1994–95 to 1999–2000 would be about £180 million.
The Government recognise that the previous system of tax allowances did not target support fairly on those who needed it most. A new system has now been introduced, which focuses resources on families with children. Most widows and widowers with children under 16 will, from next April, be entitled to the Children's Tax Credit, worth over twice as much as the Widow's Bereavement Allowance. We believe that this will give the right support to those who need it most.
§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many men were widowed between 6 April 1994 and 5 April 2000 in(a) the UK and (b) each Scottish local authority area.[138102]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 14 November 2000]: There are around 80,000 men widowed each year in the UK of whom some 7,500 are in Scotland. I regret that it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate for the number of men widowed in each Scottish local authority area.