Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission

Thursday 27th March 2014 Written Statements

[The Minister for Schools (Mr David Laws)]

Today I wish to inform the House of the publication of the Government’s response to the first annual report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

The independent Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission monitors the progress of the Government and others in improving social mobility and reducing child poverty in the United Kingdom. The commission plays a vital role in ensuring the Government make progress in both of these areas and we are grateful to them for their thorough and comprehensive report.

We are committed to ending child poverty. We will support families into work, help families to increase their earnings, improve living standards by decreasing costs for low-income families, and prevent poor children becoming poor adults by raising their educational attainment.

We are determined to break down the barriers to social mobility at all stages of a person’s life, from when they are born right through into adulthood, to ensure that everyone can fulfil their potential.

We are tackling the root causes of poverty by giving people opportunities rather than trapping them in dependency.

A copy of the Government’s response will be available later today at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications.