Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Covid-19: Child Poverty

Monday 25 January 2021 · 4 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Her Majesty's Treasury's analysis shows the Government's 280 billion response to the pandemic has supported the poorest working households the most.
  • Active discussions are ongoing with Her Majesty's Treasury regarding the 20 universal credit uplift.
  • The Government disagrees with Labour's approach of throwing money at the benefits system, as it led to a generation trapped on benefits and incentivised not to work.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Chris Elmore Lab Bridgend
Economy Children & Families
Context

The MP is concerned about the impact of the pandemic on child poverty rates. The government has provided a £6 billion increase to welfare support.

Question

What assessment she had made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on trends in the level of child poverty?

Answer from Will Quince

Her Majesty's Treasury's analysis has shown that the Government's comprehensive £280 billion response to the pandemic, including a temporary and emergency £6 billion increase to welfare support specifically designed to help low-income families, has supported the poorest working households the most, with the poorest 10% of working households seeing no income reduction.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not specify the impact on child poverty trends and did not address whether the increase in welfare support was sufficient to prevent rising child poverty rates.

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Q2 Wes Streeting Lab Ilford North
Benefits & Welfare Children & Families
Context

The withdrawal of the £20 a week universal credit uplift is expected to plunge huge numbers into poverty, including 300,000 children.

Question

Given that withdrawing the uplift will plunge huge numbers of people into poverty, including 300,000 children, why are Ministers having such a difficult time persuading the Chancellor to do the right thing by the poorest families and tackling child poverty?

Answer from Will Quince

We are in active discussions with Her Majesty's Treasury regarding the £20 universal credit uplift. No one in this House wants to see anyone in poverty. We have invested several billion pounds more over and above the £100 billion spent annually on benefits for working-age people.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not address why the Chancellor is struggling to maintain the uplift despite its impact on child poverty.

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Q3 Chris Elmore Lab Bridgend
Economy Benefits & Welfare Children & Families
Context

The Minister understands deeply about this issue, but is frustrated that the Chancellor is not listening and more children are in poverty.

Question

Why is the Chancellor not listening? Is he tin-eared on this issue? We cannot be a nation where there are more and more children living in absolute poverty. I ask the Minister to challenge the Chancellor and ensure we stop more children going into poverty.

Answer from Will Quince

As I have said, the universal credit uplift is still in place for the remainder of this tax year. Discussions remain ongoing with Her Majesty's Treasury, and a decision on the future of the universal credit and working tax credit uplift will be taken by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in due course.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not address why the Chancellor is not listening to concerns about child poverty.

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Q4 Karen Buck Lab
Benefits & Welfare Children & Families
Context

The number of children in poverty has increased by 600,000 since 2010, with £9 billion withdrawn from social security since 2015.

Question

Can the Minister confirm that if the Government proceed with ending the £20 UC uplift, together with rising unemployment, that will mean, by the end of this Parliament, that they will have seen 700,000 more children cast into poverty than at the beginning?

Answer from Will Quince

We take the issue of poverty, and tackling poverty, incredibly seriously. Active discussions are ongoing with Her Majesty's Treasury. We fundamentally disagree with Labour's approach: simply throwing money at our benefits system led to a generation trapped on benefits and incentivised not to work.

Not addressed: Did not confirm whether proceeding would lead to an increase in child poverty.

How: Fundamentally Disagree With Labour'S Approach

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