Budget boost for young families

Chancellor Alistair Darling has promised extra help for "hard-working families" in his 2008 Budget.Mr Darling's measures include an increase in child benefit for the first child to £20 a week from April 2009 - a year earlier than planned.He also promised to increase by £50 a year above inflation the child element of the Child Tax Credit for families on low and middle incomes from April next year."This means that a family with two children, earning up to £28,000 a year, will be over £130 a year better off," Mr Darling said.Mr Darling also said £200 million will be invested in schools, bringing forward to 2011 Government target for all schools to have 30 per cent of pupils achieving five A-C grade GCSEs."I can announce today that we will commit £10 million over the next five years - which alongside contributions from the Wellcome Trust and private sector will create a £30 million Enthuse Science fund," he said."This will give every science teacher in secondary and further education access to high quality professional development helping improve the science offer to today's children."© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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ITN | March 12, 2008