Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2016 to Question 50529, what plans his Department has to carry out a review of the link between poor relationship outcomes and child life chances and effectiveness of relationship support.

The Department funded the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) to complete the evidence review ‘What works to enhance inter-parental relationships and improve children's outcomes’, which was published on 22 March 2016. This evaluates the impact of inter-parental relationships on children’s outcomes and is informing the development of our new programme to tackle parental conflict. This review included an assessment of the effectiveness of 15 UK programmes which aim to enhance the inter-parental relationship and improve outcomes for children, in addition to further international evidence. The Department continues to fund and work with the EIF to expand the evidence base for the effectiveness of such interventions.