Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 106 of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, entitled UK Poverty: Causes and Solutions, what assessment he has made of whether paying benefits and tax credits intended to support children for all children in a family will move 350,000 children out of poverty by 2020; and if he will make it his policy to implement the recommendation to take such steps.

This Government is committed to delivering a country that works for all. Worklessness is one of the most important drivers of child poverty: children in workless families are three times more likely to be in relative low income. The policy to limit child elements in Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit to a maximum of two strikes the right balance between protecting the vulnerable and encouraging families who receive benefits to make the same financial decisions as those families who support themselves solely through work.