HL Deb 12 October 2000 vol 617 cc54-5WA
Lord Higgins

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether child poverty can ever be eliminated using the definition of child poverty given by the Baroness Hollis of Heigham in her reply to a supplementary question by Lord Higgins on 28 December (H.L. Deb., cols. 942–43). [HL3938]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)

We have pledged to eradicate child poverty in 20 years and to halve it in 10. The second annual reportOpportunity for All outlines a set of headline indicators against which progress will be measured. The number of children in low-income households (below 60 per cent of median) is only one of the measures that will be used. Measures already announced will lift 1.2 million children above this line.