Social Security Benefits: Lone Parents

Mrs. May
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much he has allocated to fund the childcare costs of lone parents with young children wishing to return to work in 2009-10;

(2) from what source funding to cover the childcare costs of lone parents with young children wishing to return to work will come.

Kitty Ussher
As set out in the discussion paper on the next steps in implementing the Gregg Review (28 January 2009) we stated that the costs of childcare for lone parents with young children wishing to return to work are funded from the Department's core DEL—Departmental Expenditure Limited—budget, and from within that the budget allocated to New Deal for Lone Parents. The initial allocation for New Deal for Lone Parents for 2009-10 is anticipated to be £34 million(based on current assumptions and may be subject to change). We do not specifically allocate budgets for the various components of the New Deal for Lone Parents programme. However, in 2008-09 childcare costs have accounted for just over 18 per cent. of the total spend.