Gordon Brown speaks to iVillagers

Why is the Child Tax Credits system so complicated? cl-katypyee

Gordon Brown: When we introduced tax credits, we were determined to fight child poverty and give extra help to the people on middle and modest incomes who were working hard to get on. Around six million families got this help last year.

I realise it can sometimes be daunting for people to ask for everything they are entitled to, which is why we have provided extra support to hundreds of thousands of parents through advisers.

They can help with lots of things, from filling in forms to talking people through their application. We even get in touch with those who are at high risk of missing the renewal deadline to arrange their renewal over the phone.

Improvements such as our new 'Tell us Once' service, joining up Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit systems, means that parents only need to let us know once about the birth of a child and we'll make sure this is reflected in both their Child Benefit and Tax Credits.

Why is it the case that we are still very much facing a 'postcode lottery' when it comes to certain key aspects of healthcare? Services such as IVF, mental healthcare and the availability of certain, often life-saving drugs, are attainable in some parts of the country and not others. Why is this the case and are there any plans to address it? cl-ambientbreeze

Gordon Brown: There have been huge steps forward in mental healthcare, IVF provision and access to drugs over recent years.

Mental health services, which have seen an increased yearly investment of £2 billion per year, are now recognised as world leaders.

On IVF, I think the option to become a parent is something most of us expect to have and people who cannot conceive naturally should of course have access to treatment, just as for any other issue.

The NHS is making significant progress in providing fair access to IVF, with a 30 per cent increase in the number of local health services offering the recommend three cycles in the last year alone. The Department of Health has also funded Infertility Network UK to produce standard criteria for access to IVF treatment.

The new NHS Constitution gives all patients the right to expect local decisions on funding of drugs and treatments such as IVF and mental healthcare, to be made rationally, following a proper consideration of the evidence.

This means that if the local NHS decides not to fund a treatment that a patient and their doctor feel would be right, they have to explain that decision to the patient.

We will continue to work hard to make sure that healthcare keeps on improving and that the system is fair, but it's right that the local NHS is able to make decisions about how to spend their money based on what is needed in their communities.

Regarding the recent increase in fuel tax and bearing in mind the current economic conditions, do you think it's fair that low income families are being forced to suffer yet more hardship? Analysts have predicted an average increase of £30 per month to keep a car on the road - a substantial figure when it comes to feeding a young family. cl-gossip-girl

Gordon Brown: I know that this is a difficult time for families which is why we are offering real help with action such as cutting VAT to put money in people's pockets - benefiting households by £275 on average.

We brought forward the increase to child benefit and child tax credits benefitting millions of families and raised personal tax allowances so that people on modest wages pay less income tax.

We shouldn't forget that in real terms, fuel duty is still lower today than it was a decade ago. But the changes announced at the Budget, reflect our long-term policy of reducing carbon emissions and financing world class public services.

Transport accounts for 21 per cent of our carbon emissions in the UK, so it's important to encourage people to move to greater fuel-efficiency and towards greener cars.

We also want to continue to invest in Britain's future and protect and improve our front line public services such as the NHS and our schools.

We approached the leader of the opposition, David Cameron, for a similar interview but our offer was declined.

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