Oeddech chi'n golygu to child benefit can?
Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the two child limit on benefit recipients; and if he will review the cap.
Hywel Williams: Have the two-child limit and the benefit cap increased child poverty?
Ruth Maguire: The most recent poverty statistics are not acceptable. We are a wealthy nation with all the resources required to ensure an equal and fair childhood for all. One child having their health, development and wellbeing impacted by poverty is one too many, but the fact that one in four children in Scotland find themselves in a situation where their future life chances are being impacted is at the...
...on motion S6M-08589, in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville, is: For 67, Against 30, Abstentions 17. Motion agreed to, That the Parliament commits to continuing the national mission on tackling child poverty; acknowledges that the most recent poverty statistics remain too high and that all levels of government must take action to reduce poverty and inequality in society; recognises the...
Meg Hillier: ...to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for ensuring that this important opportunity to raise issues is taking place in this Chamber today. I have two particularly very personal issues, and then a couple of others that affect a wider group of constituents. I would ordinarily have liked to raise them in an individual Adjournment debate, which...
Baroness Wyld: ...the Conservative Party, as well as gaining cross-party support in the other place. I pay tribute to all those who have spoken so passionately and sensitively about their personal experiences of children born prematurely, including Luke Hall MP and David Linden MP. I give thanks to the APPG on Premature and Sick Babies. I am enormously grateful to Bliss and other charities that provide...
Lord Evans of Rainow: ...House and giving us the opportunity to debate this important issue, and I thank those who have participated and engaged on the Bill. The Government think that it is of utmost importance to support children and families and are committed to helping parents into work. That requires a balanced system that provides strong work incentives and support for those who need it, but which ensures a...
Viscount Younger of Leckie: ...bring along to see for myself what is happening. It is very much what I would like to do—genuinely. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, for initiating this debate on the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit & Universal Credit Functions) (Modification) Order 2023. This annual legislation informs rent officers in the Valuation Office Agency, the VOA, and rent services in Scotland and Wales of...
Margaret Greenwood: ...rate tax band. The IFS has said that the freeze would cost most basic rate taxpayers £500 from April and most higher rate payers £1,000. It is difficult to see how that will not have an impact on child poverty. Alison Garnham, the chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, has pointed out that the Budget contained “no mention of the UK’s 4 million children in poverty”. She...
Viscount Younger of Leckie: ...the Chancellor announce a range of employment measures in last week’s Budget that will provide further support to help people enter work and increase their working hours. This includes extending childcare support so that eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year from when their child is nine months old. For...
David Linden: My hon. Friend is absolutely spot on; it is about how devolved powers are used. I will come on to that and the question of what devolution is for, but she is right to praise the Scottish child payment. It is something on which we have managed to get cross-party consensus. One of the few things that I have enjoyed about the SNP leadership debate, which has been absolutely terrible in my view,...
Nicola Sturgeon: ...about forced adoptions, and I hope that we will, in the interests of building a better future, continue to address and help to heal the past injustices that women have suffered. We have also made childcare and support for families integral to our economic and social policies with policies including the baby box, the expansion of childcare, extra support for carers and the Scottish child...
Wendy Chamberlain: ...another cold snap this week, so it certainly is not over yet. While the energy price guarantee has protected families from the worst increases, some households have seen their bills increase two, three or possibly even four times in the past year. We know from the scandal of the forced instalment of prepayment meters that many people have been unable to keep up with those bills, and that...
Shona Robison: In March 2022, we published analysis that suggests that the Scottish child payment could reduce relative child poverty by an estimated 5 percentage points in 2023-24, lifting 50,000 children out of relative poverty in Scotland. Of course, the United Kingdom Government could use its powers to tackle child poverty and the cost of living crisis by—just to name a few measures—introducing a...
Nicola Sturgeon: ...much with Emma Roddick. I think that the Conservatives should be deeply ashamed of the impact of their welfare policies. We have known for a long time that the current United Kingdom Government benefits system is not fit for purpose. People across the country are paying the price for that every day in ways that Emma Roddick has pointed out. Over many years, we have called for improvements....
Fleur Anderson: The hon. Member had plenty of time to speak; I have only two minutes. He has just made provocative statements completely detached from the facts as I have seen them at my local food bank and from visiting so many people in my constituency. In Southfields and in Roehampton with its Community Box, food banks are doing a fantastic job, but no one going to them wants to go there; they want to be...
Philippa Whitford: ...Others who are suffering with long covid face losing their pay or their job, and we should be ashamed of that. The covid pandemic had a massive impact on all four health services across the UK. The two biggest challenges are the backlog and the workforce we need to deal with it. However, there were underlying problems before covid. We had 10 years of Tory austerity: up to 2010, the annual...
David Linden: ...went further: to support better those who are the most vulnerable financially, the kind of folks I see at my Friday surgeries at Baillieston, Easterhouse, Parkhead and Cranhill. The harsh yet inescapable reality is that many of the structural problems that the very poorest in our society face are the result of a policy framework put in place by this British Government: policies like the...
Tim Farron: ...passionate about. The hon. Lady made an excellent speech. I just want to say a few words—I will hopefully take less than six minutes—to contribute to the debate. The Government’s position on childcare is clearly that the best way to tackle poverty is to have people in work, and therefore providing childcare is about making sure that people can work. It is also about the vital...
Baroness Lister of Burtersett: ...'s Government, further to the remarks by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 24 January (HL Deb cols 93–94), what plans they have, if any, (1) to publish regular data on the numbers of families and children affected simultaneously by the benefit cap and the two-child limit, and (2) to monitor the impact on these families and children.
