Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 28 July (WA 247) what specific estimates they have made of the expected "positive impact" of the childcare element of Universal Credit on work incentives for mothers and corresponding employment rates and tax receipts from mothers paying income tax and national insurance.

The announced measures mean from April 2016, families with children who have childcare costs below the defined limits will see an improved financial incentive to work and to work more hours.

Once Universal Credit is fully rolled out many working families will face an improved incentive to work, including 100,000 families who will get childcare support for the first time under Universal Credit. The precise improvement an individual faces will vary according to circumstance.

We have not made a specific estimate of how this feeds through into employment rates and tax receipts.