Oeddech chi'n golygu to child benefit can?
Shirley-Anne Somerville: Eradicating child poverty is this Government’s defining mission. As the First Minister has made clear since his appointment in May, our ambition is not to tackle or reduce child poverty but to eradicate it completely. There will never be an acceptable number of children in poverty. Today, I have published the Scottish Government’s annual progress report on child poverty for...
Kirsty Blackman: ...are taken by a Committee of the whole House followed by Public Bill Committee sessions, but much of the stuff that is considered in the Public Bill Committee is extremely technical, and it would benefit Members to be able to question external organisations with real experience. The Association of Accounting Technicians, for example, would be able to give us a significant amount of...
Shirley-Anne Somerville: We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to match the scale of our ambition here in Scotland. That includes making changes to the reserved benefits system because, of course, the majority of benefits are still reserved to the UK. Most important, I think, is the introduction of an essentials guarantee to reverse damaging welfare cuts such as the two-child limit. That, in itself, would...
Rona Mackay: I welcome the First Minister’s commitment to tackling child poverty. Last week, the renowned right-wing Conservative, Suella Braverman, called for an end to the cruel two-child benefit cap, which Keir Starmer has ruled out. Can the First Minister advise what difference could be made to child poverty levels in Scotland if the cap were removed? Can he confirm that it will be a priority of the...
Lord Sikka: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the two-child benefit cap on child poverty.
Tom Pursglove: .... An individual on those routes can apply to have their condition lifted if they are destitute or at risk of imminent destitution, if there are reasons relating to the welfare of a relevant child, or if they are facing exceptional circumstances affecting their income or expenditure. For all immigration routes other than family or private life and the Hong Kong BNO route, the general...
Suella Braverman: ...welcome the Government’s reforms to welfare and put on record my thanks to the great team at the Fareham jobcentre, with whom I have worked to organise jobs, apprenticeships and skills fairs. A child growing up in poverty is more likely to have worse literacy, numeracy, health and job outcomes, and a shorter life expectancy than the national average. Is it not right that the single...
the Bishop of Leicester: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 24 April (HL3765), what plans they have to collect data to evaluate the success of the two-child benefit cap, especially in relation to the statements in the 2015 Impact Assessment which suggest the two-child limit would (1) encourage parents to consider their readiness to support an additional...
Humza Yousaf: ...our choices. Where the Westminster consensus—Labour and the Tories—has chosen Brexit, Scotland chose to remain in the European Union. Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer chose to retain the two-child limit and the rape clause. The SNP Government opposes those. Labour chooses to lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses but not the cap on child benefits. The SNP chooses differently. ...
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: ...are now living in poverty. If we think back to the Covid pandemic, there was a focus on essential workers such as delivery drivers, supermarket shelf stackers, and care workers, and many of their children are those who are living in poverty. I also have to disagree with the noble Lord about social housing. Decent housing is a human right. It should be an essential service provided by our...
Jacob Young: ...believe that we share the ambition to see the Bill on the statute book as soon as possible. New clause 10 would extend Awaab’s law to the private rented sector. The tragic and avoidable death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak is the most shocking reminder of the danger of damp and mould. I am clear that no tenant should have to live in dangerous housing conditions, but our approach to tackling...
Shirley-Anne Somerville: I thank Clare Haughey for securing this debate. The Scottish Government has been consistent in its opposition to the two-child limit and associated rape clause since it was introduced. We called on the UK Government, in advance of the spring statement, to abolish that policy. The First Minister has also written to Sir Keir Starmer to ask, in the event of a Labour Government, whether there is...
Amanda Solloway: ...issue, which I care deeply about. He mentioned what it is like to live in fuel poverty. I assure him that I personally understand exactly what that is like, having known the difficulty as a child of using something as simple as a washing machine, and latterly having a mother with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and having to make decisions about using oxygen. I reiterate that I fully...
Mark Durkan: ...reform has been more pronounced here. The need for mitigations was recognition that this policy was, and is, wrong. Social justice is a core founding principle of the SDLP, and I argue that the two-child cap, the biggest driver of poverty in the UK, is one of the biggest social justice challenges of our time. To stand idly by would contradict the essence of not just my party but that of...
Sian Mulholland: ...insert: "an integrated and comprehensive anti-poverty strategy underpinning a future Programme for Government, as agreed in previous mandates, to include specific and measurable targets to reduce child poverty with targeted prevention strategies, as well as robust monitoring mechanisms to measure outcomes and to enable data to be collated and analysed; and further calls on the Minister...
Clare Haughey: It was not so long ago that Scottish Labour was campaigning for an additional £5 payment for children, but, instead, this Scottish National Party Government introduced the game-changing Scottish child payment of £25 per week per eligible child. Will the cabinet secretary tell the Parliament how many children that has lifted out of poverty and confirm that, unlike the Labour Party, this...
Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his department has made of the potential implications for household budgets of his policies on the (a) cap on benefits for out of work households and (b) two child limit for child support.
Lord Sikka: ...to the ONS, the median annual pay was £27,972. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that a single person needs an income of £29,500 to have a minimal standard of living, and a couple with two children needs at least £50,000. A large part of our population is therefore below the level of a decent standard of living. Rather than helping, the Government have piled on the agony. Since...
