Child Poverty

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Thursday 18th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the clearly heartfelt remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Nargund.

Child poverty is a scourge on society, and that it should be at such a high level in this country is truly appalling. The Government’s latest strategy to alleviate it is a positive move and shows some welcome joined-up thinking, but, with the exception of the two-child benefit cap being lifted, any real impact will be felt only over time and, however good the intentions, it is implementation that counts—and on that there must be some misgivings.

Currently, all good intentions have to be set in the realistic context that there is a dire shortage of cash, so it is essential that those seeking to address this issue should look beyond government resources to the local community. Take, for instance, the fact that more than one-third of children now start out in the education system unequipped to cope with the basics that are rightly expected. The strong risk is that this disadvantage will dog them throughout their lives. There can be many reasons why a four year-old is still in nappies and barely able to speak, sometimes unaware even of what their own name is, but a lack of cash cannot be the sole explanation. Inadequate parenting may be due to a lack of support and guidance, reliance by harassed parents on screen time as a substitute carer, or sheer despair at having to cope with myriad problems, from poor housing to ill health.

The best family hubs, as they become established, should begin to help those parents, but that will require the parents to engage with them, and they may prove hard to reach or even wary of things that they associate too closely with government. However, more practised and confident parents may be able to provide the back-up and encouragement that some parents need, and the most effective way of getting them together with those who need them is likely to be through the schools. One organisation that is pioneering this approach is the Parenting Circle. Its model is to use professional trainers to equip teachers and a core group of parents to work with those parents in need of support. Here, I must declare an interest: my husband was a chairman of this organisation, so I am very familiar with its work.

One small charity can reach only so many people, but it demonstrates just one way that the community could help achieve results without hefty government investment and intervention. Could the Minister say whether the Government are exploring or will explore such use of volunteers to help in this desperate area? Four year-olds should not be leaving their first year at school still in need of help in basic training. Unless we can improve the start that these children have in life, I am afraid they have little chance of climbing out of the trough that they did not intend starting out in.

That brings me to my next point. Just as damaging as financial poverty—in fact, probably more so—is poverty of aspiration. It is a killer. It numbs people. It is a dreadful affliction. It blights the lives of individuals and the prospects of the society they grow up in. It is a terrible condemnation of this country that so many young people should apparently have so little hope. It is a problem with deep roots—in some areas, it goes back to the loss of the industrial base—but it appears that a breakdown in family structures has contributed to leaving a raft of youngsters without positive role models.

At a secondary school I visited in Kent, the head teacher told me he saw his first priority not as educating the children but as providing them with some sense of stability. What does that say about our society? Government funding, even if it were available in bucketloads, could only make a contribution towards helping provide some of that stability and aspiration. Strong communities can help: there is much more that can be done, and the Government are, at least with their better communities pot, trying to reach them. But churches and business groups—everybody—could do a bit more to help these people. Schools must take care not to exacerbate economic differences. As we have heard, the free school meals stigma can really hurt.

My final point is that all children should have access to sport, dance, drama, art and music, each of which can open the door to new horizons for so many children, and in each of which individuals can flourish whatever their background—as we saw last night.