Statistics on the average cost of rearing a child are not collected. I am not sure that even if they were, they would serve a useful purpose for policymaking. Average data would, for instance, mask the differences in expenditure on children by the very well-off and by the less fortunate in the community. There are also differences in the cost of providing for children of different ages and in cost per child, notably in small families against large ones.
In 1971-72 the general child tax allowance stood at £150 for children aged over 11 years and at £135 for children not over 11 years. These allowances would be £1,045 and £940 respectively in 1991-92 if they had been increased in line with the consumer price index over the intervening period. The cost of reintroducing the allowances at this level would be up to £260 million.
The Deputy will recall that the child tax allowance, which then stood at £100, was abolished with effect from 6 April 1986, and that the revenue from its abolition was used, along with other moneys, to fund the introduction of child benefit at a rate sufficient to compensate standard rate taxpayers, then paying tax at 35 per cent, for its loss.