Child Poverty Bill

I am conscious that it is not helpful to get into a dialogue on this. I very much recognise that income is a crucial part of tackling poverty, and income transfers are a part of creating a decent benefit system. I have cited some of the progress that we have made as a Government since 1997 but there is a balance there concerning work incentives. We have endlessly debated the benefits of work in terms of aiding health and self-esteem and breaking into the generational cycle of poverty in households. We need to make progress on that, but tackling health inequalities is not necessarily an income issue for families—it might, in part, be an educational issue—so we need to use more of these levers to make progress.