Child Poverty Strategy

Baroness Chakrabarti Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Chakrabarti]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in relation to the (1) implementation, and (2) outcomes, of the Child Poverty Strategy.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Sherlock)]

My Lords, the Government are progressing urgent legislation to remove the two-child limit from April, which is expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty by the final year of this Parliament. Our monitoring and evaluations framework sets out our plans to track progress as part of our 10-year strategy for delivering long-term change. This summer we will publish a baseline report setting out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter.

[Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)]

I am grateful, as always, to my noble friend the Minister, who I suspect is one of the finest advocates for the Government in either House. She will know that some critics of the Government crave a greater overarching vision or story; others complain that policies such as removing the two-child benefit cap somehow reward the feckless. Would she like to take this opportunity to explain where this strategy sits amongst government priorities and why it is so important?

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend and commend her on her great taste in Ministers, if I may say so. It is also a really great question. The Prime Minister made it clear very early on what a high priority it was for him, and for this Government, to tackle the horrors of child poverty. Some 900,000 more children were in poverty as a result of the previous Government. This Government are determined to stop that, so policies such as removing the two-child limit and others that we have already announced will lift around 550,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament. Do we know why it matters? It is not just to those individual children while they are kids; poverty scars their life chances. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to have mental health difficulties by age 11. When they are adults, they are more likely to be unemployed and likely to earn less. Our country cannot afford to do that to our children, and our country cannot afford our children to underachieve. That is why it matters.

Two-child Benefit Cap: Foreign-born Children

Baroness Chakrabarti Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I have seen no evidence that anything as specific as this has any impact on asylum. I am sure the noble Lord is aware that our system is so strict that, for somebody to be able to come to this country, they need to meet the requirements. If someone is in the country illegally, they are not entitled to access public funds. If they are entitled to universal credit, they are expected to work. Our system is designed to support people into work but also to require that they work. This year the DWP will consult on making sure that we look at the relationship between residence requirements and our benefits system and prioritise resources for those who are making an economic contribution—but nothing in that says that we do not want to tackle child poverty. I am sure the whole House agrees with that.

[Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)]

My Lords, can my noble friend say a little more about how this progressive policy relates to the wider child poverty strategy, in particular the wider rollout this week of breakfast clubs in schools and, going forward, perhaps incremental universal free school meals, as some of us would aspire to, for all school-age children?

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend. We have another question in a moment about the child poverty strategy, so I get to spend 20 minutes talking about child poverty. Tackling child poverty has to be done on so many fronts and our strategy looks at people’s incomes, the costs they are facing and how we can give them opportunities. I am so proud that the Government have decided to do things such as extending free school meals to those on universal credit. Children need to arrive at school ready to learn, and you cannot be ready to learn if you are hungry. It is also a way of tackling the cost of living for so many families who are struggling. I am proud that we are making childcare more available and getting more support to those who are on universal credit who want to do the right thing and work but face barriers in their way. And I am proud that we are rolling out Best Start family hubs and all kinds of measures. Our children are not just our present; they are the future of our country. If we invest in them, we invest in Britain. It is the right thing to do.

Equality and Human Rights Commission: Code of Practice

Baroness Chakrabarti Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend the Minister for her very clear answers so far. Does she agree with me that although the Supreme Court is definitive on the meaning of the Equality Act, it was silent as to other continuing obligations—for example, to trans people under the Human Rights Act—and that navigating coterminous legal obligations is one of the complex challenges of the guidance and that it has to be got right?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is right that it is important, and it is the basis of the Equality Act, to recognise the rights of all those with protected characteristics within it. What was helpful in the Supreme Court’s judgment was the absolute clarification that trans people’s rights remain protected within the Equality Act 2010. We have been clear that the laws to protect trans people from discrimination and harassment will remain in place and that trans people will still be protected on the basis of gender reassignment, which is a protected characteristic written into the Equality Act.

Work is already under way to fulfil our commitment to advance the rights and protections afforded to LGBT+ people, and that includes delivering a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, working with the Home Office to deliver our commitment to equalise all existing strands of hate crime, and working with the Department of Health and Social Care to improve services for trans people.

Sexual Harassment in Educational Settings

Baroness Chakrabarti Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I think I have responded to that point. I have pointed out that one of the most appropriate things that schools can do—recognising that misogyny and abuse are not innate to children but are learned, including through the internet—is to help teach children different attitudes and to reinforce the decency that I think we all know most children and young boys have. To support schools to do that, we are investing through the provision that I talked about earlier, providing new guidance through the relationships, sex and health education guidance and supporting our teachers and parents to be able to do that.

[Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for her cross-cutting brief and the personal commitment she has to this issue. I understand the rightful concerns of noble Lords around the House that social media and big tech have played a negative role in all this. None the less, what can the Government do in their own media rounds—that is, every single Minister when in front of a microphone—and what can the Opposition do, given that they are led by a woman, to integrate this anti-misogynistic message in everything we do?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is right that the type of misogyny we are seeing, particularly impacting young people, needs a wide policy response. But it also needs cultural and political leadership, and it needs everybody to work together to condemn it and ensure that the positive behaviour which most young men and boys show is reinforced and that, where there are misogynistic attitudes in schools, we support teachers and parents to tackle them.