§ Mr. KhabraTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on what action his Department is taking to reach its goal on lifting children out of poverty in this Parliament. [44521]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThis Government is committed to abolishing child poverty within a generation and halving it by 2010. As part of this commitment, we recently published a strategy document entitled "Tackling child poverty: giving every child the best possible start in life" which will inform the Budget and Spending Review 2002. As a result of tax and benefit changes announced in the last Parliament, there are now 1.2 million fewer children in poverty than there would otherwise have been.
As part of the next stage of tax and benefit reform, a new tax credit for families with children——the Child Tax Credit——will be introduced from 2003, building on the foundation of universal Child Benefit. It will bring together the strands of support for children in Children's Tax Credit, Working Families Tax Credit, Disabled Person's Tax Credit and Income Support/Job Seekers' Allowance, and will be a seamless and transparent system of support for children, paid to the main carer, whether the family is in or out of work. Decisions on rates and thresholds will be set out in Budget 2002.