§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to increase the level of support to families to pay for child care costs. [36409]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe child care tax credit element of working families tax credit is a targeted measure to help low paid parents, for whom the cost of child care can be a significant barrier to work. The credit is worth 70 per cent. of eligible child care costs up to limits of £135 a week for a family with one child and £200 for a family with two or more children. The limits were increased to this level in June 2001 in response to representations about the costs of child care. The child care tax credit element has been extremely successful with around 155,000 families benefiting. This is more than three times the number who benefited from the family credit disregard at its peak.
Under the new system of tax credits which will be introduced from April 2003 the new working tax credit will contain a child care component. The Government welcome evidence about the cost of child care and keep the levels of support under review. Rates and thresholds for the new tax credits will be set in Budget 2002.
§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the proportion of child care costs met by(a) Government, (b) business and (c) parents; [36410]
(2) what the percentage is of child care costs met by (a) Government, (b) business and (c) parents in other member states of the EU. [36411]
1051W
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe Government do not collect data on the proportion of the cost met through different sources, nor does such data exist on an internationally comparable basis.
The National Childcare Strategy is ensuring that affordable, accessible and good quality child care is available in every neighbourhood, and Spending Review 2000 allocated an additional £225 million from 2001 to 2004 to tackle the child care gap between disadvantaged and more affluent areas.
To support working families with their child care costs, the working families tax credit includes a child care tax credit component which pays 70 per cent. of the costs of eligible child care up to limits of £135 per week for one child and £200 per week for two or more children. Around 155,000 families are receiving support with their child care costs, over three times as many as benefited from the child care disregard under family credit at its peak.
The Government's Work Life Balance Campaign is increasing awareness and take-up of employment policies and practices which benefit business and help employees enjoy a better balance between work and other demands on their lives.