Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support low-income families by (a) improving access to opportunities for children to play and learn, and (b) enhancing financial independence and living standards.

Through our Opportunity Mission, this Government will break the link between a child’s background and their future success. We will deliver across four areas including helping every child to achieve and thrive through excellent teaching and high standards, with a focus on disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Worth over £2.9 billion in 2024/25, the pupil premium grant continues to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. Furthermore, all local authorities in England continue to deliver the Holiday and Activities Food programme, providing heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families throughout the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays.

Poverty limits children’s opportunities and holds them back. The number of children living in poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. This is why tackling child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish our child poverty strategy in Spring 2025.

As set out in the Taskforce’s publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ s our ambition is to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change. To deliver this, we will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, create 3,000 additional nurseries, and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.