Lord Avebury
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Child Poverty
Lord Avebury Excerpts(11 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Freud
My Lords, there is a lot of debate about how to measure poverty. I believe that relative income measures have an important place, as do absolute measures, but it is quite true that we need to have strategies that go to the fundamentals that create poverty rather than worrying about trying to ameliorate those by income transfers. It is more important to have a balanced strategy.
Lord Avebury
My Lords, why do the Government refuse to extend the pupil premium to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children who are the worst achievers in all sectors of education, whether measured by achievement, attendance or exclusions? Surely that group qualifies as being the most deprived of all in our schools.
Lord Freud
My Lords, I will pass that view on to the Department of Education.