Tackling Poverty in the UK

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:33 pm on 10 June 2010.

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Photo of Chris Grayling Chris Grayling The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions 12:33, 10 June 2010

I beg to move,

That this House
has considered the matter of tackling poverty in the UK.

Helping people in the UK to escape poverty is one of the key challenges for the new Government and something that we are passionate about achieving. Although this Administration face one of the biggest financial challenges in our peacetime history, we are determined that we will not act in a way that leaves behind some of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. Before Labour Members contribute to this afternoon's debate, I hope that they will think back to their 13 years in power in times when they felt able to spend money freely, and remind themselves just how little progress was made with so much money.

Within days of taking office we saw the release of official poverty statistics, and what a bleak picture of progress they painted: 18% of people in the UK today live below the official poverty line, defined as a typical family, comprising a couple with two children under 14, having an income before housing costs of less than £342 a week. Official research has shown the number of children who live in families where even the most basic needs cannot be met. Of children in households with incomes in the bottom 20%, more than half live in families who cannot afford to replace worn-out furniture or broken electrical goods, and about two thirds cannot afford to make a saving of £10 a month. Of course, families under pressure to meet their daily needs are likely to see making provision for their retirement as a relatively low priority, which adds further to poverty down the line.

We believe that the last Government went wrong because they simply did not understand the nature of the poverty problem in this country. With one or two notable exceptions-I shall return to Mr Field later in my speech-they seemed to believe that Whitehall knew best: they always talked about poverty simply in terms of money and seldom demonstrated a clear understanding of the far deeper problems that can leave so many people struggling. Behind the facts and figures-beyond the statistics and the measures of material deprivation-lie incredibly complex and challenging issues.

Poverty is not just about income. Family breakdown, a lack of experience of work and education in the home, a lack of experience of parenting in the home-all contribute to a climate of poverty. Some children are brought up without even a single stable family home or in households that are ridden with the challenges of addiction. All of that shapes someone's chances of getting on or not getting on in life.