Clause 27 - Commencement
Child Trust Funds Bill
11:15 am
Ms Ruth Kelly (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Bolton West, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman knows that wealth inequality figures, like income inequality and child poverty figures, always appear many years after the situation to which they refer. Speaking in 2001, I was clearly referring to the rapid rise in inequality that occurred under the Conservatives, so I cannot share his premise. As to whether wealth inequality matters, I would say that it really matters that children from across the social, income and wealth spectrum have as equal life chances as the Government can facilitate. That is what the child trust fund is intended to contribute to. It will not do all the work itself, but it will make a minor contribution.
The hon. Gentleman described the policy as not being evidence based, but many studies have been carried out, not least the independent research by Deloitte, to which I referred extensively in the Treasury Committee.