My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (John Hutton) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am today publishing Delivering on Child Poverty: what would it take? (Cm 6951), an independent report by Lisa Harker for the Department for Work and Pensions.

This Government are committed to eradicating child poverty. We have made significant progress by lifting 700,000 children out of relative poverty since the Prime Minister set the historic target in 1998 to eradicate child poverty by 2020.

Our success in helping people into work hasbeen key to reducing child poverty. We have seen2.5 million more people in work than in 1997 and there are now over 1 million lone parents in employment. This has made a significant and sustainable contribution to reducing child poverty. We need to continue to build on this success but recognise there is more to do if we are to reach our goal.

I commissioned the report to inform our next stage of strategy development, and I am very grateful for the work that Lisa Harker has done during the summer. The report provides a challenging but constructive assessment of my department’s current strategy on child poverty and some clear recommendations for future policy development.

We will, as previously announced, be publishing the department’s own strategy on child poverty later in the year. This will set out our approach to delivering the DWP contribution to eradicating poverty by 2020. Copies of the report are available from the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office.