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Compensation Recovery Scheme
Kali Mountford: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress has been made towards introducing regulations to reform the compensation recovery scheme. [11697]
Mr. Denham: We have announced today that the provisions of the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 will come into force on 6 October. We expect to lay the regulations made under the provisions of the Act in early September. Together, the Act and the regulations will
- make compensators liable to repay benefits which have been paid as a result of an accident, injury or disease;
- allow compensators to reduce compensation payments to take account of benefit recovery but only where the benefits and compensation meet the same need;
- ensure that compensation paid for pain and suffering cannot be reduced; and
- remove the current small payments limit of £2,500 at or below which benefit recovery does not apply.
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Taxation
Mr. Wicks: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will publish data in the manner of the tax benefit model tables for families whose head is a full-time employee with ranges of gross earnings from £50 to £310 in bands of £20 for (a) a lone parent owner occupier with one child under five years, assuming no child care costs, (b) lone parent owner occupier with one child under five years, assuming child care costs of £40 per week and (c) married couple owner occupier with two children aged under five years and aged five-10 years, assuming no child care costs. [8515]
Mr. Keith Bradley [holding answer 17 July 1997]: The information has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lone parents currently take advantage of the £60 per week disregard for child care costs in family credit, and of these how many she expects to take advantage of the £100 per week disregard introduced in the Budget. [10794]
Mr. Keith Bradley
[holding answer 28 July 1997]: As at February 1997, the latest date for which information is available, there were 28,400 lone parents receiving help with child care costs in family credit. Of these, 2,000 lone parents with two or more children have child care costs of more than £60 per week.
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The increase in the maximum allowed child care costs will help those already claiming with two or more children, some further lone parents already working will be drawn into entitlement, and will ensure that work pays for some lone parents not currently working. It is not possible to quantify these behavioural effects with any certainty.
Ms Julie Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will raise the maximum family credit ceiling; and what is her estimate of the number of families which will benefit from the increase in the maximum allowed child care costs. [10918]
Mr. Bradley
[holding answer 28 July 1997]: The maximum family credit ceiling is reviewed in the uprating order each year.