Chancellor Gordon Brown's "Budget for the family" was broadly welcomed in North Yorkshire - with the £2.50 per week rise in Child Benefit receiving particular praise from community organisations.

The benefit will be upped for the eldest child from April 1999, with the premium for children under 11 on income support and family credit increasing from next November.

The move was welcomed by York campaigner Ewen Cameron of the Child Poverty Action Group's national executive.He said: "This budget is good for children and particularly for families with young children."

At last the Government had addressed an anomaly which his group had campaigned for over the years. "Studies have shown that it costs more to look after under-11s than over-11s," he said.

"My only worry is for lone parents who are losing money this year, but will not be getting the extra child benefit until next year."The decision to give parents a tax credit of up to 70 per cent of childcare costs up to £100 a week for the first child, and £150 for two or more children, was also welcomed by Mr Cameron.

But he said: "Obviously a lot of work has to be done to make more high-quality child-care facilities available for this credit to be well used."

James Glover, deputy manager of York Citizens' Advice Bureau, also welcomed tax credits for childcare but asked: "Will this credit be restricted to registered child minders or will it be more flexible? Most people use their mum, sister or friends to look after their children."

He said CAB officials, who welcomed the child benefit and under-11s premium increases, were also concerned about the changes in National Insurance contributions.

Increasing the lower limit to £81 a week meant many more part-time workers would be excluded from things like statutory maternity pay and sick pay, he said.

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