Child Poverty Bill

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Massey for these amendments and pay tribute to her for the enormous amount of work that I know she has done, and continues to do, in this area. I also thank all other noble Lords who have spoken on this group of amendments. It has been a very powerful session, and it is therefore with some trepidation that I have to respond to the debate. I start by saying that we are not here this afternoon to construct the strategies that will evolve from this Bill. We are seeking, from a child poverty perspective, to see that the framework which is provided for within this legislation covers all the bases effectively and gives us the opportunities to focus on the things that we need to. I readily accept the key points that have been made. The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, spoke about the importance of the stability of the arrangements that kinship carers can provide. A number of noble Lords, including the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, herself, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, spoke about the importance of data and resources in that, and they clearly have an impact on child poverty. The task is to see whether the Bill provides the framework for us to be able to address these issues. The amendments seek to ensure that sufficient support is given to those carers through the child poverty strategy, and that we have a good understanding of the number of such children who live in poverty. We all share a commitment to improve the support available to those who care for children, including relatives and friends, and to ensure that the needs of this group are taken into account by Government and by local authorities. The evidence points to care by family and friends being the best approach for many children who cannot be looked after by their birth parents, and we want to recognise fully the additional support needs of this group, as well as the contribution family and friends carers make to the life chances of vulnerable children. To this end, we are already taking measures to help encourage children’s upbringing by their families, and help ensure that family and friends carers receive the appropriate financial and practical support they need. We recognise in particular that grandparents are playing an ever-increasing role in family life, both in supporting parents and caring for children. They are a crucial provider of full-time kinship care for those children whose parents are unable to care for them themselves. Many grandparents also play an important role in providing flexible and affordable childcare, often in the context of wraparound care between school and more formal childcare settings. The measure announced in Budget 2009, referred to by my noble friend Lady Hollis, that grandparents and other family members with significant childcare responsibilities will be eligible for national insurance credits, firmly recognised the value that grandparents add to family life. However, while we recognise the noble intention behind these amendments—to ensure that children raised by family and friends carers receive adequate support—I do not believe that they are necessary. Amendment 32 seeks to ensure that the child poverty strategy considers measures of financial provision for specified categories of family and friends carers, as well as for parents. Amendment 71 follows on from this by adding a definition of "family and friends carers" to Clause 19. This definition is very wide, and the term "otherwise unconnected" is not totally clear. The definition is broader than that of "relative" in the Children Act 1989, which is, ""a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt (whether of the full blood or half blood or [by marriage or civil partnership)] or step-parent"." The noble Baroness looks as though she is going to—