HC Deb 13 March 2001 vol 364 cc555-6W
Fiona Mactaggart

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on(a) the expected impact of the 2001 Budget and (b) the combined impact of the 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 Budget measures on (i) women and (ii) men. [152856]

Dawn Primarolo

By October 2001, as a result of personal tax and benefit measureson average women will be £85 a year better off and men will be £80 a year better off from Budget 2001, compared with an indexed Budget 2000 base; on average women will be £440 a year better off and men will be £225 a year better off from measures introduced over the Parliament as a whole, compared with an indexed 1997 base. For households, the average gain will be £590 a year.

In addition, families with children will gain from the maternity package announced in Budget 2001, including raising maternity pay to £100 a week and extending it from 18 weeks to 26 weeks by April 2003. As a result of these reforms: All 360,000 mothers getting maternity pay a year will gain up to £1,200 extra; maternity pay, together with the extra £10 in the Children's Tax Credit for families with children under one, will mean up to £2,200 extra in the first year for families with a new baby; most women who worked beforehand will be guaranteed a minimum income of £200 a week for up to six months after the birth; over 350,000 working fathers could be entitled to two weeks paid paternity leave after a birth, at the same flat rate as maternity pay; adoptive parents will be able to take paid leave at the same flat rate and for the same period as maternity pay, when adopting a child.

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