Child Poverty Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his amendment and the noble Baronesses, Lady Walmsley and Lady Meacher, for their contributions. As has been identified, the amendment would, in effect, require the Secretary of State to carry out an analysis of the likelihood of any particular member of the household spending a disproportionate amount of money on an addiction. This would be an onerous and impractical task. It is unclear legally what is meant by ““disproportionate”” or ““likelihood””; furthermore, it is unclear what the overarching intention behind the amendment is. To be fair to the noble Lord, Lord Freud, the issue of directing benefit to the member of the household who is less likely to divert it to alcohol or drugs is now clearer. However, as drafted, the amendment is unclear and cannot be accepted. All it requires is that the likelihood is assessed; it does not state what happens if a likelihood of disproportionate spending on an addiction is discovered. Both the noble Baronesses, Lady Meacher and Lady Walmsley, have indicated that if it resulted in financial provision being withheld from the household, it would increase the risk of poverty for children in that household and, clearly, I cannot support that. It is right that we should be concerned about households with high expenditure on drugs, alcohol or other addictive substances. At this point, as anticipated, I reiterate that this is not only about income transfers; it is about much more than that. I hope that the noble Lord will acknowledge that. We know that a parent’s drug and alcohol use can cause harm to children at all stages of their development. Again I am grateful to the noble Baronesses, Lady Meacher and Lady Walmsley, for acknowledging what the Government have done, with some reservations about what more might be done. This is why the Government are investing almost £80 million in 2009-10 to support families at risk through the Think Family programme. We have given parents with drug problems priority access to treatment and we have supported a network of family self-help groups to develop across the country. The child poverty family intervention pilots are also testing the effectiveness of the family intervention pilots model with a wider range of families experiencing barriers to training and employment, including drug and alcohol misuse. While it is too early to fully evaluate the effects of these pilots, evidence from the first 699 families to complete the intervention suggests that substance misuse problems have decreased from 32 per cent to 17 per cent and alcohol problems have decreased from 28 per cent to 12 per cent. I hope that the noble Lord will not press his amendment. It is imprecise and could lead to adverse consequences, which is not what he is seeking. I ask him to acknowledge that a good deal of work has gone on in relation to drugs, alcohol and other addictive substances and that that is part and parcel of tackling child poverty in addition to ensuring that income levels are supported.