Family Test

Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Altmann]

The life-chances strategy aims to tackle the root causes of child poverty and to help transform children’s lives. Those root causes include family breakdown, addiction, debt and worklessness. The Prime Minister has announced the doubling of funding for relationship support over the next five years, as well as the tearing down of sink estates, investment in mental health care and support for women during pregnancy.

[Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope (LD)]

My Lords, I remind the Minister that when the Prime Minister announced this important policy in August 2014, he made a point of saying that he wanted the test to apply to every single domestic policy. That is what he said. Would the Minister be prepared to commission an independent evaluation of that policy, in early course, so that we can test whether the Prime Minister’s ambitious policy intent is being delivered in practice?

[Baroness Altmann]

My Lords, I assure the House that the family test is indeed incorporated into every new domestic policy consideration by this Government.