Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce child poverty in working households.

This Government is wholly committed to tackling child poverty. Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to protect family incomes by spending £407 billion to protect jobs, keep businesses afloat and help families get by. This includes spending an additional £7.4 billion last year to strengthen the welfare system for those most in need, taking our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £112bn in 2020/21. Our Covid Winter Grant Scheme has provided £229m to Local Authorities in England to enable them to support people with food and essential utility bills during the coldest months. Building on this, we have now introduced the £40m Covid Local Support Grant which will run to the 20th June. For Newcastle upon Tyne District Council this means funding of £1,817,131.52.

As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help parents move into and progress in work as quickly as possible, based on clear evidence around the importance of parental employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty. The In-Work Progression Commission will report this year on the barriers to progression for those in persistent low pay and set out a strategy for overcoming these.

We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country. We have fulfilled our commitment to recruit 13,500 extra Work Coaches who through our Jobcentre network will provide people with the tailored support they need to move into work.