Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jo Platt and Liz Kendall

Monday 1st September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jo Platt (Leigh and Atherton) (Lab/Co-op)]

17. What steps she is taking to reduce the number of children in poverty in Leigh and Atherton constituency.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Liz Kendall)]

It is a shameful legacy from the Conservatives that more than a third of children in my hon. Friend’s constituency are living in poverty according to the Child Poverty Action Group, and we are determined to tackle that. We will be lifting more than 100,000 children out of poverty by providing free school meals to all children whose families are on universal credit, benefiting more than 7,300 children in Leigh and Atherton. We will also be helping to feed them during the summer holidays by extending the holiday activities and food programme, alongside our fair repayment rate in universal credit and our crisis and resilience fund. We are helping struggling families. There is much more we will do in our child poverty strategy this autumn, but we can and we are making a difference.

[Jo Platt]

I thank the Secretary of State wholeheartedly for that response, and I agree with her. Because of the lack of action from the last Government, 26.6% of children in Leigh and Atherton are living in poverty. I welcome the measures that this Government are taking, including the extension of free school meals, but more needs to be done. Can she reassure us that she is working hard on the child poverty strategy to ensure that it addresses the needs of all children in poverty, including those with disabilities and special educational needs, so that every child can reach their full potential?

[Liz Kendall]

We will absolutely do that. The child poverty taskforce, which includes Ministers from across Government, had a specific session on children with disabilities and special educational needs, including with families and the charities that fight so hard to deliver improvements. I am not a patient person, but I ask my hon. Friend to wait until the child poverty strategy is published in the autumn, because we believe that every child—no matter where they are born or their ability or what their parents did—must be given an equal start in life.