Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on ensuring that (a) voluntary and (b) community organisations are adequately funded to support the child poverty strategy.

Local Authorities are key partners in tackling child poverty and the Child Poverty Taskforce, co-chaired by the Secretary of State, will bring forward a UK-wide child poverty strategy which supports and enables shared solutions. The Taskforce recognises that this is a complex landscape and has engaged extensively with Local Authorities about how the UK strategy can build from existing good practice and be based on understanding what matters to local communities. The September 2024 ministerial taskforce brought together local leaders from combined and local governments in England, who joined Ministers to discuss the experience of poverty in their local communities, and innovative solutions underway.

The Child Poverty Taskforce recognises the causes of child poverty are deep-rooted, with solutions that go beyond government, and will involve action from across society, including businesses, voluntary, community and social enterprises, working together in new and improved partnerships. A rolling programme of meetings between the Taskforce and experts, including from the voluntary and community sector, is supporting strategy development. Furthermore, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport is a member of the Taskforce.

The Taskforce will set out more details on the child poverty strategy in due course.