Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the removal of child poverty targets on levels of persistent poverty in the UK.

No assessment has been made of the effect of repealing the child poverty targets on levels of persistent poverty.

Making a meaningful difference to the lives of disadvantaged children requires an approach that goes beyond the safety net of the welfare state to tackle the root causes of child poverty and disadvantage. The income-related targets set out in the Child Poverty Act 2010 have been replaced by two new statutory measures of parental worklessness and children’s educational attainment to drive continued action on the areas that can make the biggest difference to children’s outcomes, now and in the future.