Child Poverty Bill

On that last point, I am sure that the Minister is right about the problems of persuading pensioners to take up benefits, first, because they think they may not be entitled to them—like council tax, for example, because they are sharing a household; secondly, because there may be a small debt at the end of the taper; or, thirdly, because of issues of stigma. We also agree, however, that, fortunately, the most careful and scrupulous of claimers—scrupulous, at least, in terms of attention to detail—are lone parents, and we know that, for most of the benefits that lone parents are entitled to claim, the take-up rate is 90 per cent, compared with pensioners whose take-up is something like 70 per cent. With regard to child poverty, the underclaiming of benefits may be less of a problem than for older age groups. That does not mean that it is not a serious problem, but perhaps it is less important for this particular issue.