Child Poverty Bill

My Lords, Clause 13 requires the Secretary of State to lay an annual report before Parliament on progress towards meeting the targets set out in Clauses 2 to 5, so it is not just a question of waiting until 2020. Clause 13(5) ensures that if the UK strategy has not been fully met, the report must describe the respects in which it has not been implemented and the reasons for that. I suggest that these provisions put in place a clear mechanism for holding the Government to account in tackling child poverty, and I would have thought that it was pretty certain that a child poverty lobby would ensure that a lively public and media debate was held after each annual report was laid. I am also certain that the Government would wish to be aware of and consider any resolutions or proposals made by parliamentarians in response to annual reports, but I suggest that the amendment seeks to do too much. It is my understanding that, following an annual report, it would allow Parliament to shape future child poverty strategies, and that just cannot be right; it is the elected Government of the day who must have the authority to design and implement policy. The amendment would also pose some practical problems. How would the power work in practice? Why should one parliamentarian’s view carry particular weight merely because he or she has been chosen to speak in a debate? Or will the views of all who have spoken be given equal weight? Hopefully, the Committee will see some of the practical difficulties. In addition to being unnecessary, then, the amendment would not work in practice and it would set a damaging precedent by blurring the powers of the Executive and legislative functions of the Government, and by muddling the authority and accountability of action to tackle child poverty.