Tag: Catherine McKinnell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the average annual cost of childcare in the UK for a child aged (a) two and under, (b) three to four and (c) five and over in each year since 2009-10; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

I refer the honourable member to the answer given by the Hon. Edward Timpson MP on 17 June 2014 c538W. This points the honourable member to, amongst other sources, the Family and Childcare Trust Annual Cost Survey for 2014 and sets out the action the Government is taking to support families.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) HM Revenue and Customs and (b) National Savings and Investments staff will be employed administering tax-free childcare in (i) 2015-16, (ii) 2016-17, (iii) 2017-18 and (iv) 2018-19.

Nicky Morgan

On the 23 May the Government published a further consultation on the delivery of childcare accounts within Tax-Free Childcare. The consultation will be open until 27 June and the Government will consider the responses alongside those to the first consultation before it makes its decision on the provision of childcare accounts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what performance indicators he has agreed with National Savings and Investments (NS&I) on the delivery of tax-free childcare; how often NS&I will be benchmarked against such indicators; how often the results of this benchmarking will be made available; what penalties have been agreed for poor performance against these indicators; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan

On the 23 May the Government published a further consultation on the delivery of childcare accounts within Tax-Free Childcare. The consultation will be open until 27 June and the Government will consider the responses alongside those to the first consultation before it makes its decision on the provision of childcare accounts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost was of the report entitled, Evaluating alternative market models for Tax-Free Childcare vouchers, prepared by Economic Insight for his Department; what assessment he made of this report’s findings and recommendations; and whether these recommendations informed the operation and design of his Department’s policy on tax-free childcare.

Nicky Morgan

Economic Insight were asked to consider whether there are any reasons why a private sector competitive market for childcare accounts might not function well. It compared it to a closed model in which there is competition to select a limited number of private sector childcare account providers. It concluded that there were no reasons why a competitive market could not function effectively as parents would be able to assess the differences between the offers and choose accordingly.

On the 23 May the Government published a further consultation on the delivery of childcare accounts within Tax-Free Childcare. The consultation will be open until 27 June and the Government will consider the responses alongside those to the first consultation before it makes its decision on the provision of childcare accounts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the decision was taken that National Savings and Investments would be responsible for the delivery of tax-free childcare; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan

On the 23 May the Government published a further consultation on the delivery of childcare accounts within Tax-Free Childcare. The consultation will be open until 27 June and the Government will consider the responses alongside those to the first consultation before it makes its decision on the provision of childcare accounts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department had with representatives of National Savings and Investments in (i) August 2013, (ii) September 2013, (iii) October 2013, (iv) November 2013, (v) December 2013, (vi) January 2014, (vii) February 2014 and (viii) March 2014.

Nicky Morgan

National Savings & Investments is an executive agency of the Treasury. As with all of its supporting agencies and public bodies, the Treasury holds regular meetings with NS&I on a wide range of issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance and support (a) HM Revenue and Customs and (b) National Savings and Investment will provide for parents who encounter IT problems during the quarterly reconfiguration process for tax-free childcare; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan

On the 23 May the Government published a further consultation on the delivery of childcare accounts within Tax-Free Childcare. The consultation will be open until 27 June and the Government will consider the responses alongside those to the first consultation before it makes its decision on the provision of childcare accounts. Following this decision the Government will work with stakeholders to develop guidance to support parents, and assisted approaches will be provided to parents without access to the internet.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of divorced and separated parents who will have to decide which of them should own a tax-free childcare account; how HM Revenue and Customs plans to resolve disputes over such decisions; and what additional resources will be committed for this purpose.

Nicky Morgan

It is estimated that of the families that will directly benefit from the Tax-Free Childcare scheme around 95% are couples and 5% are lone parents. Based on the best available data, we estimate that around half of these lone parents will be either divorced or separated.

Working lone parents are more likely to have lower income levels than working couples. More lone parents will therefore receive support for childcare through Tax Credits and then subsequently Universal Credit which is generally more generous than Tax-Free Childcare.

On the 18 March the Government published its response to the consultation on design and operation of Tax-Free Childcare which sets out that where adults in a family are unable to reach agreement about which of them should claim, HMRC will consider the facts of the case and make a decision.

The resource requirements of the scheme will be settled once the scheme’s details have been finalised.