Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is his Department's policy to close the childcare vouchers scheme to new applicants on 4 October 2018.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
I refer the Honourable member to my statement made on 29 March 2018 www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statements/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&member=4097
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have joined a childcare voucher scheme in each of the last six months.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold this information. Childcare vouchers provided by employers are normally exempt from tax and National Insurance contributions. Therefore, employers are not required to report details to HMRC unless they provide more than the exempt amount to their employees.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2018 to Question 137634 on Children: Day Care, what funding his Department had allocated for (a) Call Centre Costs and (b) IT Support Costs in advance of financial year 2017-18.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Parents apply for Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare through a single online application - the childcare service. The forecast costs for running the childcare service for 2017-18 were £28.7million for the call centre and operational support and £16.1million for IT support.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance his Department has issued to childcare voucher providers on changes to data-handling as a result of the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recognise the challenges facing organisations across the UK in their preparations for the General Data Protection Regulation. The ICO is leading on providing guidance and support to UK organisations and has published a number of resources on the Commissioner's website (ico.org.uk) to help all organisations prepare.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2018 to Question 137634, on 137634, what was the total amount his Department planned to spend on support costs for policies related to childcare and early education in the financial year 2017-18.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Childcare Service is an integrated digital service through which parents can apply for Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare in a single application. As the costs of one application can be associated with both policies, there is not a clear distinction between the operating costs of each. In 2017-18, HMRC met just under £29 million of the total costs, and DfE £8 million.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2018 to Question 137634, on Children: Day Care, whether support costs will be included as part of the £6bn spend on childcare in 2020.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
By 2019-20 we will be spending a record £6 billion on childcare support. The IT and call centre costs referred to in my answer to question 137634 are not included within this figure.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of all departmental budgets to ensure that they (a) include a sum for investment in tackling children's social and economic inequalities and (b) enable policy collaboration between Departments on social and economic inequalities.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
To tackle the inequalities that children face, in 2018-19 we’re giving schools £5.5 billion to support disadvantaged children. Over half a million of the country’s most disadvantaged 2 year olds have received free early education since the offer was introduced in 2014. And thanks to the government’s strong record on employment, since 2010, 598,000 fewer children are now living in workless households.
The Government sets budgets through the Spending Review process, where we assess all departmental budgets and spending priorities in the round. At annual fiscal events the Government can make adjustments to these plans. In the last budget, this government was more transparent than any other: publishing detailed analysis of the impact of policy decisions on households of different incomes.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 135820, on Children: Day Care, how much was spent each month on (a) call centre support and (b) IT support for (i) tax-free childcare and (ii) 30 hours of free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
For question 137635, I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave to the Honourable Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North on 1 March 2018 (129635).
The table below provides the breakdown of the costs for administering the childcare service each month by call centre and IT support cost. This includes the costs of supporting both Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare.
Month | Call Centre Costs[1] (£) | IT Support Costs (£) | Total Costs (£) |
April 17 | 936,275 | 1,001,488 | 1,937,763 |
May 17 | 1,158,196 | 1,136,145 | 2,294,341 |
June 17 | 1,333,135 | 1,136,145 | 2,469,280 |
July 17 | 1,572,458 | 1,252,344 | 2,824,802 |
August 17 | 1,955,659 | 1,336,145 | 3,291,804 |
September 17 | 2,362,997 | 1,459,861 | 3,822,858 |
October 17 | 1,882,743 | 1,136,145 | 3,018,888 |
November 17 | 2,261,795 | 1,218,064 | 3,479,859 |
December 17 | 2,029,776 | 1,200,104 | 3,229,881 |
January 18 | 2,555,326 | 1,174,878 | 3,730,204 |
February 18 | 2,209,577 | 1,174,878 | 3,384,455 |
March 18 | 2,338,005 | 1,174,878 | 3,562,783 |
[1] This includes Childcare Service Operations (CSO) Paybill and covers other work such as administration and processing costs
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse has been of administering childcare vouchers in each of the last 36 months.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
For question 137635, I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave to the Honourable Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North on 1 March 2018 (129635).
The table below provides the breakdown of the costs for administering the childcare service each month by call centre and IT support cost. This includes the costs of supporting both Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare.
Month | Call Centre Costs[1] (£) | IT Support Costs (£) | Total Costs (£) |
April 17 | 936,275 | 1,001,488 | 1,937,763 |
May 17 | 1,158,196 | 1,136,145 | 2,294,341 |
June 17 | 1,333,135 | 1,136,145 | 2,469,280 |
July 17 | 1,572,458 | 1,252,344 | 2,824,802 |
August 17 | 1,955,659 | 1,336,145 | 3,291,804 |
September 17 | 2,362,997 | 1,459,861 | 3,822,858 |
October 17 | 1,882,743 | 1,136,145 | 3,018,888 |
November 17 | 2,261,795 | 1,218,064 | 3,479,859 |
December 17 | 2,029,776 | 1,200,104 | 3,229,881 |
January 18 | 2,555,326 | 1,174,878 | 3,730,204 |
February 18 | 2,209,577 | 1,174,878 | 3,384,455 |
March 18 | 2,338,005 | 1,174,878 | 3,562,783 |
[1] This includes Childcare Service Operations (CSO) Paybill and covers other work such as administration and processing costs
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax-free childcare accounts have (a) been created and (b) had at least one payment made from that account to date.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
As of 19 April 2018, more than 275,000 parents had opened a Tax–Free Childcare account and over 60,000 parents had used their account to make a payment to a childcare provider.