Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents have opened and then closed a tax-free childcare account since that policy was introduced.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
7,656 Tax-Free Childcare accounts have been closed since the scheme launched in April 2017.
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 been set up for disabled children; and what proportion of those accounts have had at least one payment made from them.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Regarding the number of Tax-Free Childcare accounts for disabled children, I refer the Honourable Member to the response I gave to the Honourable Member for Manchester Central on 17 January 2018 (122408).
Regarding the proportion of these accounts which have had a payment made from them, I refer the Honourable Member to the response I gave on 7 December 2017 (117411).
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 31 January 2018 to Question 125132, on Children: day care, if he will publish the information requested.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
It is not the Government’s usual practice to comment on financial arrangements, or release correspondence, between departments and their contactors since they may be commercially sensitive.
The information requested in relation to Question 125132 is not available and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
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 20 February 2018 to Question 127427 on children: day care, whether Atos or any other contractor has been given a financial sanction relating to the faults with the tax-free childcare website.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
It is not the Government’s usual practice to comment on financial arrangements, or release correspondence, between departments and their contactors since they may be commercially sensitive.
The information requested in relation to Question 125132 is not available and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
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 6 February 2018 to Question 126082 on Children: Day Care, whether his Department has requested technical improvements to the Childcare Choices website capability since 1 January 2017.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Childcare Choices website (found at www.childcarechoices.gov.uk) provides information for parents on all government schemes which offer support towards childcare costs. The website helps parents to choose which form of government childcare support works best for them. The content of the website is regularly updated, and there have been no significant technical issues with the site since it was launched.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of eligible employees of his Department use childcare vouchers.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
8.5% of eligible HM Treasury employees use childcare vouchers.
The childcare voucher scheme is a salary sacrifice scheme which means that an employee agrees to a reduction in their taxable salary, and receives the equivalent amount in childcare vouchers instead.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents have stopped using childcare vouchers in order to use tax-free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HMRC are delivering the childcare service in partnership with National Savings & Investments (NS&I). Atos are a contractor to NS&I. It is not the Government’s usual practice to comment on financial arrangements, or release correspondence, between departments and their contactors since they may be commercially sensitive.
Data on how many parents have stopped using childcare vouchers in order to use Tax-Free childcare is not available.
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 publish all recent correspondence between his Department and the companies contracted to deliver the website services responsible for the generation of eligibility codes for childcare policies, tax-free childcare and 30 hours of funded childcare on improvements requested to that website.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HMRC are delivering the childcare service in partnership with National Savings & Investments (NS&I). Atos are a contractor to NS&I. It is not the Government’s usual practice to comment on financial arrangements, or release correspondence, between departments and their contactors since they may be commercially sensitive.
Data on how many parents have stopped using childcare vouchers in order to use Tax-Free childcare is not available.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which companies are contracted to provide the website services which generate eligibility codes for (a) tax-free childcare and (b) 30 hours of funded childcare; and whether those companies have been sanctioned for website faults.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HMRC are delivering the childcare service in partnership with National Savings & Investments (NS&I). Atos are a contractor to NS&I. It is not the Government’s usual practice to comment on financial arrangements, or release correspondence, between departments and their contactors since they may be commercially sensitive.
Data on how many parents have stopped using childcare vouchers in order to use Tax-Free childcare is not available.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits that extending shared parental (a) leave and (b) pay to self-employed workers would provide to families accessing maternity or paternity leave.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The government set out in its response to the Taylor Review of modern employment practices that while it agrees with the principle of equalising benefits for the self-employed it is right to only consider making changes to this area once we have carefully considered this in the wider context of tax, benefits and rights over the longer term.
Since 2010, we have taken significant steps to equalise the state benefits provided to the employed and self-employed, including giving the self-employed access to the full rate of the new State Pension for the first time, (worth up to £1,900/year more).