Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill

Debate between Sandra Osborne and Lord Hanson of Flint

Tuesday 26th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hanson]

My hon. Friend is correct in the sense that there are ways in which we can tackle child poverty, such as by ensuring that people have an equal opportunity at the age of 18 to make progress in their lives through jobs, training and university. One way in which we were doing that was through the child trust fund.

[Sandra Osborne]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that if the measures were due to financial constraints, the Conservatives would have kept the CTF mechanism in place, given its success, and perhaps cut the contributions with a view to reinstating them when times were better rather than abolishing the funds altogether?

[Mr Hanson]

I shall come to that point later. The Government have chosen to take a sledgehammer to the funds and not even to consider other options such as that mentioned by my hon. Friend.