Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answers of 28 November to Question 115530 and Question 115536, what information his (a) his Department and (b) other Government Departments hold on the number of households who have applied for tax-free childcare through the childcare choices website.

HM Revenue & Customs records the numbers of applicants for Tax-Free Childcare, and the children that they have applied for. HMRC also records eligibility information provided by parents in the application and reconfirmation processes. Eligibility information is checked against a range of Government data sources.

Tax-Free Childcare is currently available to working families whose youngest child was born on or after 24 November 2011. It will be rolled out to all eligible parents of children aged under 12 by the end of March 2018.