Written question asked by James Clappison (Conservative) on Wednesday, 3 July 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 September 2002. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Thursday, 19 September 2002 on behalf of the Treasury.

Treasury

Question: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the extent of fraud in the child care element of working families tax credit; and how many (a) investigations and (b) prosecutions have been instituted into fraud in the childcare element of WFTC since 31st December 2001. - Inc figure.

Answer: Mr. Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the extent of fraud in the child care element of working families tax credit; and how many (a) investigations and (b) prosecutions have been instituted into fraud in the childcare element of WFTC since 31 December 2001. [67773] Dawn Primarolo: The childcare element is only one component of both Working Families' Tax Credit and Disabled Person's Tax Credits (WFTC and DPTC). During the period 1 January 2002 and 30 June 2002, 13,305 investigations of WFTC or DPTC awards were opened by the issue of the Inland Revenue's Code of Practice on enquiries, but it is not possible to say how many of these were in relation to childcare charges. During the period, one of the twenty-five prosecutions was instituted as a result of the falsification of childcare documentation.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 390 c207-8W; 67773
Session: 2001-02
Subjects: Childcare Abuse Criminal investigation Fraud Prosecutions Working families tax credit Welfare tax credits
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk