Child Tax Credit

Ms Buck
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many parents of children aged 11 years and over were in receipt of the child care element of children’s tax credit in each of the last three years.

Mr. Timms
The following table shows the number of in-work families with a child aged 11 years or over who were benefiting from the child care element of working tax credits at selected snapshot dates in the last three years.

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|                                                |April 2005|April 2006|April 2007|
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|Families with at least one child aged 11 or over|259,500   |286,500   |314,600   |
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|Of which:                                       |          |          |          |
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|Families where all children were aged 11 or over|13,800    |16,900    |20,600    |
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The bottom row of figures in the table shows families where all child care costs can be attributed to children aged 11 or over. For families with two or more children, it is not possible to say which child the family are claiming child care costs for. It is likely that most families with children under and over the age of 11 are claiming child care costs for younger siblings, as opposed to any child aged 11 or over.