The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the proportion of families currently paying for childcare that will be eligible for the proposed tax-free childcare scheme.
Nicky Morgan
The information requested is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the take-up of tax-free childcare by parents in each income (a) decile and (b) percentile.
Nicky Morgan
This information is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the European Social Fund Operational Programme for 2014-20 has been agreed with the European Commission; and when he expects funding from that programme to be released to local enterprise partnerships.
Esther McVey
We are working closely with the European Commission on the Operational Programme, and expect that agreement will be reached shortly, after which we plan to invite applications for funding.
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 2014-03-10.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the electoral registration figures were in each ward in the recent confirmation dry run conducted in the Newcastle City Council area.
Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.
The ward results for Newcastle City Council are shown in the following table:
Results for all wards are available on the Commission’s website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls
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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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-04-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the number of children in poverty affected by the under-occupancy penalty since its introduction; and if he will make a statement.
Esther McVey
This information can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
This Government has made good progress in tackling the root causes of child poverty and has recently published the 2014-17 draft child poverty strategy for consultation which outlines the actions we are taking. The latest figures from 2011-12 show that 2.3 million children (17%) are in relative income poverty-down 300,000 since 2009-10. These are the lowest levels since the mid-1980s. The number of children in workless households has fallen by more than 270,000 since 2010, which is key to driving down poverty.