§ Mr. LloydTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress is being made by the Government in meeting their poverty reduction targets for the UK. [60339]
§ Mr. Gordon BrownThis Government are committed to reducing child poverty by one quarter by 2004, halving it by 2010 on the road to eradicating child poverty in a generation.
Central to this is the new child tax credit, which together with child benefit, will ensure that benefits for the poorest families—worth £28 a week for the first child in 1997—will be £54.25 from next April.
A meeting of the Joint Ministerial Group on Poverty with the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland Administrations will take place next month to examine not just benefits but services to children.