Child Poverty Strategy
Debate between Baroness Sherlock and Lord Farmer(4 days, 1 hour ago)
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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.
Lord Farmer (Con)
My Lords, the better futures social outcomes fund was announced in the child poverty strategy, with government payments tied to the achievement of measurable improvements in people’s lives, such as increased family stability. Family breakdown can be a driver, as well as an effect, of poverty. Can the Minister explain how progress in this area will be measured and whether the funding structure will enable ongoing work, after milestones have been reached, to prevent families slipping back into difficulties again?
Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely right about the importance of family stability; it is extremely important for children to grow up in a stable family wherever possible. He is right that poverty is both a driver and a consequence. We know that poverty puts huge pressures on families. Lifting the two-child limit and giving families higher rewards than those that they have now will lift over half a million families out of poverty and help to take the pressure off.
The noble Lord mentioned the better futures fund. That will be a 10-year programme focused on a range of long-term measurable outcomes, including family stability. He asked about how it will be measured. It is currently in the design phase, but the funding will primarily be used for social outcome partnerships, and those bidding will be expected to show the sustainability of their proposed ideas. We absolutely take seriously the importance of family stability. We are going to address the questions of poverty that drive problems, but we also want to do what we can to support families.
Two-child Benefit Cap: Foreign-born Children
Debate between Baroness Sherlock and Lord Farmer(1 month ago)
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Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely right about the effects of this. The Labour Party in government pledged to tackle child poverty. What this Government have brought forward is a child poverty strategy which, including removing the two-child limit, will bring another 550,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament. That is what we are here to do; that is what we are shooting for.
I stress that this is about fairness. Of course, our benefit system is there to support those for whom this is their home; those who contribute. Of course it is there to be fair, but it is also there as a safety net, and our job is to get that balance right. In the case of children, it surely has to be right to tackle child poverty, to give them the opportunity and for the country to benefit from that.
Lord Farmer (Con)
My Lords, given the scale of additional public expenditure involved, and while recognising that welfare policy will not be the primary driver of migration, what steps are the Government taking to ensure that lifting the two-child limit does not inadvertently act as a pull factor for economic migrants to present initially as asylum-seeking families, and how will this be monitored?
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.
Universal Credit: Two-child Limit
Debate between Baroness Sherlock and Lord Farmer(2 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Lord Farmer
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on work incentives of lifting the two-child limit in Universal Credit.
The Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Sherlock) (Lab)
My Lords, this Government are determined to lift children out of poverty, and removing the two-child limit is the fastest and most cost-effective way to do so. The benefit cap is still in place, encouraging parents to take responsibility and work towards financial independence. Our approach balances fairness and provides a strong safety net without undermining the incentives to work.
Lord Farmer (Con)
My Lords, recent international evidence found that unconditional cash transfers increase fertility. Families claiming health-related benefits are not capped, so even these workless families will get UC for every child, again affecting work incentives. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that money-per-child tax credits increased births by 15% and decreased contraceptive use among beneficiaries. Have the Government assessed whether lifting the two-child limit will incentivise more births in benefit-dependent households, and whether many of the 450,000 children this measure intends to lift out of poverty would not otherwise have been born?
Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
My Lords, the Government have seen no evidence that the two-child limit had an impact on family size. For example, 47% of households affected by the two-child limit were not claiming universal credit when any of their children were born. In other words, things happen; people set out, they have children and something happens. Maybe someone loses their job, they are bereaved, their spouse leaves them, or they get sick and cannot work. The welfare state should be there to support people, both into work and in work, but it is also there to support them when they cannot work. We already know that some 60% of households affected by this are in work. Our strategy is to make sure we do all we can to get people into work, get them to develop in work and support them, but we are there as a safety net when they cannot do so.