Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Early Intervention Foundation review, What works to enhance interparental relationships and improve children's outcomes, commissioned by his Department and published on 22 March 2016, what steps he is taking to increase investment for interventions aimed at supporting parental relationships in order to improve children's mental health and life chances.

The Early Intervention Foundation review showed that children exposed to frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict between their parents are at risk of poorer long term outcomes. Our new approach to relationship support responds to this evidence.

Since April 2016 we have doubled the funding available for relationship support for the remainder of this Parliament. From 2017/18 we will be contracting for relationship support services which will include both help targeted at the most disadvantaged families experiencing relationship distress, as well as universal support to help all families with information and advice on building better relationships.