Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual cost of recognising family responsibility in the welfare system has been in each financial year since 2010.

The Government supports families in a number of ways, including through the welfare system.

For instance, every year the Government spends more than £11bn on Child Benefit in recognition of the costs to families of raising children. In addition to this, at the last Budget, the Chancellor put an additional £1.7bn per year into the Universal Credit Work Allowances for families with children and those where someone has a disability.