Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 104 of the report, UK Poverty: Causes and Solutions, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on 6 September 2016, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the recommendation to review changes to Universal Credit to ensure that lone-parent family incomes continue to move them out of poverty.

The Prime Minister is clear that we need to build a country where no one and no community is left behind.

We know that work is the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work.

The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare, including providing 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, doubling free childcare available for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week and enabling parents to reclaim up to 85% of their childcare costs which is expected to help 500,000 additional families at a cost of around £350m/year.