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Child Benefit (Rates) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

I say simply that the PBR is an update of the forecasts which takes account of what has happened since we looked at these issues during the 2008 Budget. That should be crystal clear. The noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, did not think that the VAT measures would work. Frankly, we will have to see. We are just at the start of the process of the reduction and we believe that it is a better measure for encouraging people back into prompting demand in the economy. It will run for a total of 13 months, and as I say, we are at the start of the process. Of course there is heavy discounting in the stores at the moment, but who knows how long that will continue. Both noble Lords asked me about the propensity for people to save child benefit sums in comparison with other amounts. I do not have specific data on that and my officials do not have it to hand. However, if there is anything, I shall certainly write to noble Lords I stress that this is part of a package to help hard pressed families. We shall come on to talk about pensioners in the next order. Given the economic challenges we face because of the global credit crunch, I believe that this is an important step and I commend the regulations. Motion agreed.