Kerry McCarthy
Main Page: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)Department Debates - View all Kerry McCarthy's debates with the HM Treasury
(9 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Nicky Morgan
My right hon. Friend the Chancellor promised to fix the British economy, which is what we are doing. The hon. Gentleman might remember that the last Chancellor promised to abandon boom and bust, and we know where that got us.
Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
8. What recent assessment he has made of the effect of the Government's policies on its commitments under the Child Poverty Act 2010.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
10. What recent assessment he has made of the level of child poverty.
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Nicky Morgan)
The Government are committed to our goal of ending child poverty in the UK by 2020. We are determined to tackle the root causes of poverty, not just the symptoms. Our draft child poverty strategy 2014-17 sets out our approaches, based on robust published evidence review. Work remains the best route out of poverty. We are making work pay and tackling low pay through our reforms to the welfare and tax systems. Universal credit, for example, will lift as many as 300,000 children out of poverty.
Kerry McCarthy
But this week the largest ever study of poverty in the UK, the Poverty and Social Exclusion project led by the university of Bristol, was published. It found that full-time work is not sufficient to keep families out of poverty and that the majority of children who suffer multiple deprivations live with both parents, at least one of whom is working, in small families, with only one or two siblings. When will the Government accept responsibility for the rising tide of in-work poverty and do something to help people who are trying their hardest but still struggling to get by, including the children who are living in those families?
Nicky Morgan
We have set out, as I have already said, a clear commitment by this Government to end child poverty by 2020. The hon. Lady’s question shows that there are a number of root causes of child poverty. Incomes, of course, are a very important part of that. We are working to raise the income of poor children’s families by helping them get into work and making work pay, and she will appreciate the rise in the national minimum wage. We are also raising educational outcomes for poor children, which is equally important.