Parliamentary search - Child Poverty Bill

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

496 c603-80

Session

2008-09

Department

Department for Work and Pensions
Treasury

Legislative stage

Second reading

Procedure

Programme motions
Carry-over motions
Money resolutions
Queen's recommendation

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Child Poverty Bill. Explanatory Notes Bill 112-EN also published.
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Bills
House of Commons

Child poverty. Evidence 17 June 2009.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons

The best start in life? Allieviating deprivation, improving social mobility and eradicating child poverty. Work and Pensions Select Committee second report in 2 volumes with proceedings, evidence (HC 1023-i 2006-07 and HC 42 i-iii 2007-08 not printed separately) and appendices.
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons

Best start in life? Alleviating deprivation improving social mobility and eradicating child poverty. Work and Pensions Select Committee second special report - government response to the Committee's second report of session 2007-08 (HC 42).
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Speaker | 496 c680 (Link to this contribution) We have today received a message from the Lords. The Lords agree without amendment to the amendments...

Jamie Reed | 496 c611 (Link to this contribution) Can we be clear about this? Is the commitment of the right hon. Lady's party an actual commitment or...

Show all contributions (140)

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c611 (Link to this contribution) Eradicating child poverty is an ambitious but important aspiration for any Government of this countr...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c612 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know as well as I do that one omission from the Bill, and from the Secretary...

Steve Webb | 496 c612 (Link to this contribution) It is Steve Webb, but if I say something stupid it is Ed Davey. [Laughter.] No, I take that back. T...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c612-3 (Link to this contribution) No, not at this stage. The Bill ties a future Government to the targets that the current Government...

Karen Buck | 496 c612 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady give way?

Steve Webb | 496 c612 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady give way?

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c611-2 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman listens to my words, he will find out exactly what our position on this partic...

Speaker | 496 c612 (Link to this contribution) I call Ed Davey.

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c612 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Gentleman.

Yvette Cooper | 496 c610-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. The Sure Start programme is hugely important in providing opportunities for...

John Redwood | 496 c608-9 (Link to this contribution) Why can the Secretary of State not answer my question on income differentials, the shadow Secretary ...

Joan Humble | 496 c610 (Link to this contribution) Earlier the Secretary of State referred to the key role of Sure Start children's centres. Surely by ...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c609-10 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows that the current statistics do not yet include figures for operating the ch...

Sammy Wilson | 496 c609 (Link to this contribution) Although I think that the whole House will support the stated aims of the Bill, does the Secretary o...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c609 (Link to this contribution) We have to do everything that we can to increase the take-up of benefits. The hon. Gentleman is righ...

John Barrett | 496 c609 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State agree that one way of getting more people out of poverty would be to ens...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c609 (Link to this contribution) The shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury sits there on the Front Bench and says it is not sustaina...

Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 496 c609 (Link to this contribution) It is not sustainable.

Yvette Cooper | 496 c609 (Link to this contribution) Not only is that not a question, but the right hon. Gentleman still has not said whether his party i...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c617 (Link to this contribution) No, I want to make some more progress. As it happens, I was about to come to the fact that work pro...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c617-8 (Link to this contribution) I did not say that at all, and I suggest that the hon. Lady listens more closely. As the Institute ...

Karen Buck | 496 c617 (Link to this contribution) Without support for tax credits, the logic of the right hon. Lady's position is that she is prepared...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c618 (Link to this contribution) I will make a little progress. Another part of tackling worklessness will be improving the life cha...

Paul Rowen | 496 c618 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady give way?

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c618-9 (Link to this contribution) That is a myth that the Labour Government have attempted to perpetuate for many years. We have not s...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c618 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady has spoken about the importance of the early years. Can she confirm that she pro...

Graham Stuart | 496 c620 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman could tell us whether he believes that the number of children in...

Jamie Reed | 496 c619-20 (Link to this contribution) I think that I speak for everyone when I say how dismayed I am by the hollow and poor understanding,...

John Redwood | 496 c613 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that if Ministers are serious about tackling the issue, they should ...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c613 (Link to this contribution) I will come on to a very important issue that I believe lies behind child and family poverty, but is...

Sally Keeble | 496 c613 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady makes an important point about the wider aspects of poverty, but would she not a...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c615 (Link to this contribution) If the right hon. Lady recognises that worklessness is an important cause of child poverty, will she...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c614-5 (Link to this contribution) One of the most important things that we can do for the voluntary sector is free it up to get on wit...

John Mason | 496 c614 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the shadow Secretary of State about not merely giving the voluntary sector and local au...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c613-4 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend refers to the issue of quangos. All I would say to him is that, of course, the ...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c617 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State knows full well how we will pay for the proposal—[Interruption.] Oh yes she d...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c616 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady tell me how she proposes to pay for that measure? Secondly, does it come fi...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c615-6 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady makes such a thing of this £5 billion, but I would dearly love to hear her stand...

Gary Streeter | 496 c604 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady talks about the values that underpin the Bill, and I certainly welcome those. Cl...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c604 (Link to this contribution) It is right that we support families, and we should support families of all kinds, whatever their ci...

John Redwood | 496 c603 (Link to this contribution) Why then have inequalities of income grown over the past 12 years? What will the Government do now t...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c603 (Link to this contribution) As the right hon. Gentleman will know, the figure on child poverty has in fact dropped over the past...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c603 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I hope that the Bill will have support from...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c605 (Link to this contribution) In fact, as I have just explained, the material deprivation target looks more broadly at the kinds o...

John Howell | 496 c605 (Link to this contribution) Given the case that the right hon. Lady started to make—that there are many factors involved in depr...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c604-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right in that it is indeed a radical thing for us to set Secretaries of State ...

David Heath | 496 c604 (Link to this contribution) I entirely support the right hon. Lady's contention, but I am puzzled because the Government's posit...

Charles Walker | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) Answer the question.

Yvette Cooper | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman might not think that is serious—he might not think the need to tackle child pover...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that there is nothing more serious than helping parents back int...

Speaker | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman asked a question.

Speaker | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) Order. This is a very serious matter.

Charles Walker | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) And it is a disgraceful performance—

Yvette Cooper | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I agree with the hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr. Walker) that we need...

Speaker | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman may not like the answer he gets, but he must not keep chuntering from a se...

Steve Webb | 496 c605 (Link to this contribution) It is clearly an evil for a child to be persistently poor. Likewise, it is an evil for a pensioner t...

John Battle | 496 c606 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill, which I think will prove to be a significant milestone in tackling poverty in ou...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c606 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is right to suggest that local government often has considerable ability to mak...

John Mason | 496 c606 (Link to this contribution) The Minister mentions the minimum wage and relative income, on which I completely agree with her. Ho...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c606-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that we take advice from the Low Pay Commission on the level at which t...

Baroness May of Maidenhead | 496 c607 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is making a great claim that the Government have done so much over the past 1...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c607-8 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady is opposing all the action that we are taking to help people who are unemployed....

Yvette Cooper | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is keen to intervene from the Back Benches. I will give way to him in the hope th...

Karen Buck | 496 c630-2 (Link to this contribution) I start by emphasising an element of consensus that has emerged from the speeches that we have heard...

Gary Streeter | 496 c634-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (Ms Buck), who ma...

Karen Buck | 496 c632-4 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that anyone sensible could doubt that growing up in a stable relationship gives a chi...

Jamie Reed | 496 c632 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my view that the contribution made from the Opposition Front Bench was mor...

Gary Streeter | 496 c638 (Link to this contribution) The Minister makes a good point. Perhaps that is one reason why the definition of poverty—although I...

Julie Morgan | 496 c639-41 (Link to this contribution) This has been an important and interesting debate. Child poverty is one of the most important issues...

Stephen Timms | 496 c638 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman will recognise that clause 8(2)(b) refers to all children. The diffic...

Steve Webb | 496 c626 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right that there is substantial in-work poverty. The role of the minimum wage,...

John Mason | 496 c626 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that getting parents into employment does not automatically mean that ...

Steve Webb | 496 c627 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is right to say that poverty has many facets. One of the welcome aspects of...

John Battle | 496 c626 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman for sticking with this issue since 1980s, paying close attention...

Gary Streeter | 496 c627 (Link to this contribution) I respect the hon. Gentleman's expertise in this matter, and I shall therefore ask him a genuine que...

Steve Webb | 496 c627-8 (Link to this contribution) That is a central question in this debate. If there is a goal to abolish child poverty in a meaningf...

Sally Keeble | 496 c628 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman might also want to take into account the fact that Traveller children and the chi...

Steve Webb | 496 c628 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, a lot will depend on the exact methodology of the survey. There are permanent local autho...

Mark Harper | 496 c629 (Link to this contribution) We are broke.

Steve Webb | 496 c629-30 (Link to this contribution) But is the Conservative party committed to the Bill or not? We know the state of the public finances...

Jamie Reed | 496 c623 (Link to this contribution) My apologies to my hon. Friend, too, for not giving way. Will the Government also ensure that the i...

Steve Webb | 496 c626 (Link to this contribution) I seem to recall that when Mrs. Thatcher came to power, unemployment was slightly over 1 million, an...

Steve Webb | 496 c625-6 (Link to this contribution) My recollection of the years I spent looking at those figures is very different. In the late 1980s, ...

Graham Stuart | 496 c626 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman accept that child poverty rates have not fallen significantly under this Gov...

Andrew Selous | 496 c625 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has launched a withering attack on my party. As a former statistician, he will be...

Steve Webb | 496 c624 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Copeland (Mr. Reed), who reminds us, in this discussi...

Graham Stuart | 496 c624 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the point that the hon. Gentleman has just made, which is all the more right because in...

Karen Buck | 496 c620 (Link to this contribution) I am interested in that question. Is not it the case that the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the C...

Jamie Reed | 496 c620 (Link to this contribution) I understand that the definition of severe poverty has been roundly condemned by the agencies most c...

Jamie Reed | 496 c622 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, and he pre-empts my next sentence. By "ha...

John Howell | 496 c622 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making an interesting point, with which I happen to agree: a lot of the effort...

Jamie Reed | 496 c622-3 (Link to this contribution) Because we have a fundamental difference of understanding in respect of the Bill's scope, provisions...

John Mason | 496 c620 (Link to this contribution) I note that the hon. Gentleman has used the words "defeat child poverty" before, and he is talking n...

Jamie Reed | 496 c620-2 (Link to this contribution) The measures in the Bill are the most unprecedented steps towards defeating child poverty in this co...

Gary Streeter | 496 c622 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful speech, which I am appreciating, but in his long list of peo...

David Gauke | 496 c675 (Link to this contribution) Again, my hon. Friend makes an interesting point. I do not know whether we should take that as his a...

Stephen Timms | 496 c677-9 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to do so. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the assessment made by the Institute for Fiscal S...

Stephen Timms | 496 c675-7 (Link to this contribution) I agree that we have had an excellent debate. I really hope that we can forge a consensus on the aim...

Graham Stuart | 496 c677 (Link to this contribution) My constituents often tell me that they get frustrated when, as soon as a target they have heard abo...

David Drew | 496 c659-62 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to take part in this Second Reading debate and it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Me...

Graham Stuart | 496 c662 (Link to this contribution) As always, the hon. Gentleman is making a thoughtful contribution. Does he think a Select Committee ...

David Drew | 496 c662-3 (Link to this contribution) Well, I am greedy because I want both. I want a Select Committee that embraces the different Departm...

Graham Stuart | 496 c663-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) and to participate in tonight...

John Mason | 496 c666-9 (Link to this contribution) My party welcomes this Bill. I wish to associate myself in particular with the speeches by the hon. ...

Sammy Wilson | 496 c669-72 (Link to this contribution) The difficulty towards the end of such a debate is that many of the points that one wished to raise ...

David Gauke | 496 c672-4 (Link to this contribution) We have had an interesting and thoughtful debate with contributions from all parts of the House and ...

Graham Stuart | 496 c674-5 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend puts his finger on an important point. On the guidance from the Secretary of State, t...

Graham Stuart | 496 c675 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend think that it is an omission that there is no mention of children's trusts? They...

David Gauke | 496 c675 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. That is exactly the concern. I hope that we will be able to...

John Barrett | 496 c653 (Link to this contribution) I take the hon. Gentleman's point. We often hear, particularly from parents with disabled children, ...

Sally Keeble | 496 c653-4 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to speak on this important Bill. A number of Opposition Members, especially the hon. Me...

Graham Stuart | 496 c652-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful speech. May I recommend to him "Empowering Society", which w...

Graham Stuart | 496 c649 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the public would have more confidence in the measures if the commission were to rep...

Mark Durkan | 496 c649-50 (Link to this contribution) I fully accept the hon. Gentleman's point, which reinforces the one that I was making. People would ...

Mark Durkan | 496 c648-9 (Link to this contribution) I fully accept that point. Nevertheless, the Treasury Committee clearly lamented the fact that there...

Dai Davies | 496 c657-9 (Link to this contribution) Like many others who have spoken, I welcome the Bill and the continuing forecast for the eradication...

Sally Keeble | 496 c654-7 (Link to this contribution) I was about to refer to that issue, because housing is one of my main concerns. Before housing costs...

Steve Webb | 496 c654 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady refers to the important role of housing in poverty. She will know that the definition ...

Julie Morgan | 496 c642 (Link to this contribution) I agree, and I thank my hon. Friend for her contribution. I strongly welcome the child poverty comm...

John Howell | 496 c642-3 (Link to this contribution) I echo what has been said about the importance of this subject, and the need to tackle child poverty...

John Mason | 496 c643 (Link to this contribution) indicated assent.

Julie Morgan | 496 c641 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but I think that the Bill amounts to much more than...

Karen Buck | 496 c642 (Link to this contribution) The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's critique of the poverty strategy is that its heavy dependence on wo...

Graham Stuart | 496 c648 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman is as confused as I am by the Bill. My understanding was that th...

Mark Durkan | 496 c646-8 (Link to this contribution) I support the Bill. As a number of hon. Members have said, child poverty should concentrate all mind...

Sally Keeble | 496 c648 (Link to this contribution) As a member of the Treasury Select Committee, may I say that although no specific measures were anno...

Mark Durkan | 496 c648 (Link to this contribution) I accept the hon. Gentleman's point. The question arises: under the Bill, where does the Secretary o...

Jamie Reed | 496 c620 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a compelling point. That is absolutely right. The lives of the children we hav...

Steve Webb | 496 c624-5 (Link to this contribution) It is certainly true that the UK has a very poor record on child poverty compared with most of the r...

John Howell | 496 c643-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman nods, and I well remember his comments on this subject in the Committee on the Eq...

Yvette Cooper | 496 c605-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that we have made substantial progress in cutting pensioner poverty, li...

Gary Streeter | 496 c638 (Link to this contribution) Of course I give way to the respected Minister.

Graham Stuart | 496 c623 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Charles Walker | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) I just want to get back to serious politics for a moment, if the Secretary of State will allow me. S...

Charles Walker | 496 c608 (Link to this contribution) And I have not had an answer—

Graham Stuart | 496 c641 (Link to this contribution) Those are just warm words in clause 8. They are not a strategy. The Bill simply states that we must ...

Jamie Reed | 496 c623 (Link to this contribution) I have been more than generous in giving way, and I must now make some progress.

John Barrett | 496 c650-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan). He said that this should n...

Subjects

Disability

Children

Devolved matters

Disadvantaged

Housing

Economic situation

Low incomes

Poverty

Obesity

Scotland

Social security benefits