Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what they steps they are taking to improve affordability of tenancies in the private rented sector.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Boosting the supply of homes of all tenures must be at the heart of any strategy to improve housing affordability which is why the government’s Plan for Change includes a hugely ambitious milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament.

The Renters’ Rights Bill empowers private rented sector tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, with all rent increases taking place via an existing statutory process. Tenants who receive a rent increase that they feel is not representative of the market value will be able to challenge the increase at the First-tier Tribunal.

The Bill also takes practical steps to end the practices of rental bidding and landlords demanding large amounts of rent in advance. These unfair practices pit tenants against one another, encouraging them to either stretch their finances to the limit or prevent them from accessing the private rented sector altogether.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment the Child Poverty Taskforce has made of the potential benefits of statutory child poverty reduction targets.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and is exploring all available levers across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change.

As set out in the publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’, the Taskforce is exploring a range of metrics and will make decisions alongside the publication of the strategy. This work will be guided by the leading, and internationally recognised, measure of poverty - Relative Poverty After Housing Costs (the proportion of families with below 60% of the median income after housing costs are deducted).

Our metrics must also reflect the experience of poverty in households across the UK and the urgent need to focus on those children experiencing the most severe and acute forms of poverty. The Taskforce will consider how best to measure this as the strategy develops, including through our work on the material deprivation measure following the recent review of the material deprivation survey questions carried out by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Child Poverty Taskforce will include statutory child poverty reduction targets in their forthcoming strategy.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and is exploring all available levers across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change.

As set out in the publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’, the Taskforce is exploring a range of metrics and will make decisions alongside the publication of the strategy. This work will be guided by the leading, and internationally recognised, measure of poverty - Relative Poverty After Housing Costs (the proportion of families with below 60% of the median income after housing costs are deducted).

Our metrics must also reflect the experience of poverty in households across the UK and the urgent need to focus on those children experiencing the most severe and acute forms of poverty. The Taskforce will consider how best to measure this as the strategy develops, including through our work on the material deprivation measure following the recent review of the material deprivation survey questions carried out by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Found: Lord Bird described the current situation as “appalling”, due in part to the lack of funding and support

Found: Clause 145 LORD BIRD _ Clause 145, page 162, line 36, leave out subsections (1) and (2) and insert—

Found: Clause 145 LORD BIRD _ Clause 145, page 162, line 36, leave out subsections (1) and (2) and insert—

Found: Clause 145 LORD BIRD _ Clause 145, page 162, line 36, leave out subsections (1) and (2) and insert—

Found: Clause 145 LORD BIRD _ Clause 145, page 162, line 36, leave out subsections (1) and (2) and insert—

Found: Clause 145 LORD BIRD ★_ Clause 145, page 162, line 36, leave out subsections (1) and (2) and insert

Found: Scott of Bybrook, Lord Watts, the Earl of Clancarty, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, Lord Scriven and Lord Bird