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Treasury

Answer

Jean Corston: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for each of the years 1996 to 2004, what the estimated expenditure was for all children and per child, in current and in real terms, on (a) family credit, (b) working families tax credit, (c) child benefit, (d) children's allowance, (e) child maintenance premium for parents with care on income support and (f) in total; and if he will express the total expenditure on children as a percentage of gross domestic product. [187122] Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is provided in the following tables. The figures for child benefit, child allowances in Income Related Benefits (IRBs--income support, jobseeker's allowance and minimum income guarantee/pension credit) and family credit are for Great Britain; those for working families' tax credit (WFTC) and child tax credit are UK wide. There is no Government expenditure on the child maintenance premium in income support because it is funded by payments from the non-resident parent. Table 1: Aggregate expenditure, nominal terms £ billion nominal _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Child Benefit Child Family Credit WFTC 1 Child Tax Total Total allowances in 1 Credit (Percentage IRBs GDP) 1996-97 6,941 2,650 1,014 -- -- 10,605 1.4 1997-98 7,088 2,480 1,119 -- -- 10,687 1.3 1998-99 7,295 2,465 1,161 -- -- 10,921 1.3 1999-2000 8,283 2,670 953 549 -- 12,455 1.4 2000-01 8,660 3,125 -- 2,503 -- 14,288 1.5 2001-02 8,795 3,482 -- 3,162 -- 15,439 1.5 2002-03 8,945 3,945 -- 3,466 -- 16,356 1.6 2003-041 9,400 3,847 -- 2-- 8,889 22,136 2.0 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Table 2: Aggregate expenditure, real terms £ billion real terms (2004-05 prices) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Child Benefit Child Family Credit WFTC 1 Child Tax Total Total allowances in 1 Credit (Percentage IRBs GDP) 1996-97 8,413 3,212 1,229 -- -- 12,855 1.5 1997-98 8,415 2,944 1,328 -- -- 12,688 1.4 1998-99 8,360 2,825 1,330 -- -- 12,515 1.3 1999-2000 9,198 2,965 1,058 609 -- 13,830 1.4 2000-01 9,512 3,432 -- 2,749 -- 15,693 1.6 2001-02 9,351 3,702 -- 3,362 -- 16,415 1.6 2002-03 9,352 4,124 -- 3,624 -- 17,100 1.7 2003-041 9,663 3,955 -- 2-- 9,138 22,755 2.2 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Table 3: Expenditure per child, nominal terms £ per week nominal _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 1 Family Credit2 704 732 738 881 -- -- -- -- WFTC2 -- -- -- 800 1,121 1,258 1,283 3-- Child Benefit 543 558 576 653 684 697 712 722 Child allowances in IRBs 807 878 915 1,013 1,225 1,397 1,634 1,644 Child Tax Credit -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 847 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Table 4: Expenditure per child, real terms £ per week real terms (2004-05 prices) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Family Credit2 854 869 846 978 -- -- -- -- WFTC2 -- -- -- 888 1,231 1,337 1,341 3-- Child Benefit 658 662 660 725 751 741 744 742 Child allowances in IRBs 978 1,042 1,049 1,125 1,346 1,486 1,708 1,690 Child Tax Credit -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 870 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Figures for 2003-04 are estimates. 2 The values for expenditure on family credit and WFTC are not total expenditure on these credits, but the amount of expenditure attributable to the children in the household. 3 Some payments of WFTC were made in 2003-04 but these related to 2002-03 awards.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c74-6W; 187122

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Children Child tax credit Child benefit Expenditure Family credit Social security benefits Working families tax credit

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk