Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, which suggests child poverty reduction targets will not be met, what steps they will take to ensure that those targets are met.

We remain committed to our goal of ending child poverty by 2020.

The ‘2014-17 Child Poverty Strategy’, published in June this year, outlines our plans to tackle the root causes of poverty, by:

1. Raising the incomes of poor children’s families by helping them get into work and making work pay.
2. Supporting the living standards of low-income families.
3. Raising educational outcomes of poor children.

Work remains the best route out of poverty. That is why the Government is introducing Universal Credit which will lift around 300,000 children out of poverty due to increased entitlements. This Government is also focused on breaking the cycle of poor children going on to become poor adults. That is why the Government has introduced policies - such as the pupil premium, worth £2.5 billion in 2014-15, to support poor children to reach their full potential and close the attainment gap between them and their more advantaged peers.

The Government will publish a response to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission Report in due course.