The Government’s drive to end child poverty by 2020 is based on work for those who can, financial support for families, excellent public services and support for parents in their parenting role. That strategy has lifted 800,000 children out of poverty since 1997.
However, the Government will never be satisfied until we have eliminated child poverty and we are now refocusing our efforts on those who have yet to benefit.
We always rightly argue that the best pathway out of poverty is work. Yet, in South Tyneside, four out of 10 children have no parent in work. What will the Minister do to create special measures for South Tyneside to solve the problem?
My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the role of worklessness in tackling child poverty. There are specific problems in South Tyneside—as he knows, I know the area well. I am working closely with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and my hon. Friend the Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform so that we can work with people in South Tyneside—for example, employers and other partners—to get people into work and to sustain them in work, thus enabling them to lift themselves and their children out of poverty. Tackling worklessness and inactivity, especially among those on benefits, remains our top priority and we are determined to work on that so that all children, including those in South Tyneside, get the life chances that they deserve.
I am glad to hear that the Minister is not satisfied with the Government’s record—she has considerable reason not to be. The Government have already missed their target for cutting child poverty and there is not one hon. Member who has not experienced cases in their surgery of poor families who are hit by demands for thousands of pounds because of Government failures in the tax credit system, which place people in extreme poverty. Is it the system that needs changing or the Ministers in charge of it?
I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his new post. He knows that we are not satisfied and we will continue to strive to do better. I know that he respects the academic John Hills from the London School of Economics, whose recent book states:
“The package of support for low-income working families with children is now one of the most generous in the world.”
That has been critical to tackling the problem. The hon. Gentleman also knows that tax credits benefit 6 million families with 10 million children. In total, 20 million people live in households that benefit from tax credits. Of course we want to do better. I look forward to his working with us to ensure that we can eliminate child poverty.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the provision of adequate and affordable child care is a key issue, and that its absence is a possible barrier to parents moving into work? Although there has been a substantial increase in such child care under this Government, will she work with the Department for Education and Skills to ensure that its provision continues to improve and increase, so that that barrier can be removed?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Child care provision under this Government has increased substantially, and we have put in place a framework to enable access to child care for every family throughout the country. The Sure Start programme has played an important part in achieving that. We particularly want to enable lone parents to get back into work, and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow (Mr. Hepburn) highlighted, worklessness is a particular problem for lone parents. So we will continue the drive to increase the opportunities for the children of lone parents, and child care is part of that package.