Child Benefit (Rates) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

I thank both noble Lords who have participated in our discussions to date. Each in their own way has welcomed the regulations, the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, perhaps in a slightly unseasonal manner, although she acknowledged that they were uncontroversial. The £170-million cost is correct and is reflected in the PBR. The noble Baroness referred to the level of debt. We could debate it endlessly but I do not accept her assertions on our relative position. She certainly poured some doubt on the Government’s growth forecast. As we have debated on a number of occasions, the record of the Government and the Treasury in growth forecasts has overall proved to be stronger than a range of external commentators. The noble Baroness asked me: why child benefit? As I explained, that is not the only thing we are doing; we are also bringing forward the child tax credit improvements as part of the package of measures. It is a universal benefit and therefore reaches the people for which it is intended. It is one of the key measures we deploy to impact on child poverty. That is why we are using the mechanism of child benefit as a part of the package. The noble Baroness asked what we mean by ““eliminating””. She will be aware that we are scheduled to introduce a child poverty Bill in this Session of Parliament to take stock of where we are and how we can drive forward to eliminate child poverty in 2020. Along the way there will be a consultation which will reflect, in part, on where we are and on what other mechanisms we might deploy to meet that target. I would have thought that ““eliminating”” means that we no longer have the disparities relating to the 60 per cent measure that we have at the moment. The noble Baroness raised a number of points about the progress we have made to date. Perhaps I am repeating a message that we have debated on a number of occasions over the years, but we look at this, in part, in the context of where we were when we took office. There had been a substantial period where child poverty had increased dramatically and reversing that is a significant achievement. The Government are committed to ending child poverty and we have the record to prove it. A total of 600,000 children have been lifted out of relative poverty since 1998-99 before housing costs, and 500,000 after housing costs. This represents significant progress. The noble Baroness asked about the various measures that we have deployed to achieve that. There has been a combination of tax credits and child benefit increases. From April 2009, the child element of the child tax credit will increase by £75 above indexation to £2,235, bringing forward the commitment that was originally stated for April 2010, as I have already outlined; and we are discussing the child benefit increases at the moment. In addition, we have committed in respect of child maintenance to ensure that there is a total disregard in the calculation of benefits. That is another significant weapon in our armoury to tackle child poverty. We have made progress but there is no doubt that it is very challenging to make the progress that we want to. That is why we need to enshrine that commitment in legislation and, along the way, make sure that we identify all the levers that will help us to do so.