Child Poverty Bill: debate on final Commons stages
10 December 2009 (updated on 22 April 2010)
The Commons debated and passed the Report Stage and Third Reading of the Government's Child Poverty Bill. The measure now goes to the House of Lords.
- Video and Audio: Child Poverty Bill
- Commons Hansard: Child Poverty Bill
- Bills before Parliament: Child Poverty Bill
- About Parliament: Passage of a Bill
- Topical issues: Children and families
The Bill provides a statutory basis to the commitment made by the Government in 1999 to eradicate child poverty by 2020.
It would give new impetus to the Government’s commitment, and drive action across departments. It also aims to define success in eradicating child poverty and create a framework to monitor progress at a national and local level.
Key areas of the legislation:
- places a duty on the Secretary of State to meet four United Kingdom-wide poverty targets by the end of the financial year 2020
- requires the UK Government to publish a regular UK child poverty strategy
- requires the Scottish and Northern Irish Ministers to publish child poverty strategies
- establishes a Child Poverty Commission to provide advice
- requires the UK Government to publish annual progress reports
- places new duties on local authorities and other delivery partners in England to work together to tackle child poverty.
This Bill reached Commons Committee Stage during the 2008-09 session and was formally carried-over to the 2009-10 session. This means that its early stages in the current session were taken without debate. It has now moved to the Lords.