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These notes refer to the Lords Amendments to the Child Poverty Bill, as brought from the House of Lords on 17 March 2010 [Bill 92]
CHILD POVERTY BILL
EXPLANATORY NOTES ON LORDS AMENDMENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. These Explanatory Notes relate to the Lords Amendments to the Child Poverty Bill, as brought from the House of Lords on 17 March 2010. They have been prepared by the Child Poverty Unit, a cross-departmental unit of officials from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), in order to assist the reader of the Bill and the Lords Amendments and to help inform debate on the Lords Amendments. They do not form part of the Bill and have not been endorsed by Parliament.
2. These Notes, like the Lords Amendments themselves, refer to HL Bill 21, the Bill as first printed for the Lords.
3. These Notes need to be read in conjunction with the Lords Amendments and the text of the Bill. They are not, and are not meant to be, a comprehensive description of the effects of the Lords Amendments.
4. All the Lords Amendments were in the name of the Minister except for Lords Amendments 1 and 3, which were in the name of Opposition peers but supported by the Minister.
COMMENTARY ON LORDS AMENDMENTS
Lords Amendment 1
5. Lords Amendment 1 would insert a new clause requiring the Secretary of State to lay before Parliament a report on whether the 2010 target has been met. The report would need to be laid before Parliament as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the 2010 target year (that is, the financial year beginning with 1 April 2010) and no later than 30 June 2012. If the 2010 target has not been met the report must explain why this is the case.
Bill 92-EN 54/5
6. The 2010 target is the target set out in Public Service Agreement 9, to halve child poverty in the UK in relation to a 1998/99 baseline so that 1.7 million children or fewer live in qualifying households falling within the relevant income group for the purposes of clause 2.
Lords Amendment 2
7. Lords Amendment 2 would add a new paragraph to subsection (5) of clause 8 extending the list of key policy areas that must be considered by the Secretary of State when preparing a UK strategy. The Secretary of State would be required to consider what, if any, measures should be taken in relation to the provision of information, advice and assistance to parents and the promotion of parenting skills.
Lords Amendment 3
8. Lords Amendment 3 would amend subsection (5)(c) of clause 8 to clarify that “health” means both physical and mental health. In preparing a UK strategy, the Secretary of State would be required to consider what (if any) measures are needed in relation to both physical and mental health.
Lords Amendment 4
9. Lords Amendment 4 would insert a new subsection into clause 8 which would require the Secretary of State to consider the needs of the most vulnerable groups of children when preparing a UK strategy. The new subsection would require the Secretary of State to consider which groups of children appear to be disproportionately affected by socio-economic disadvantage, and to consider the likely impact of any proposed measures in the policy areas listed in subsection (5) on children within these groups.
Lords Amendments 5, 7 and 11
10. Lords Amendments 5, 7 and 11 would have the effect of requiring that both children and organisations working with or representing children are consulted in the preparation of child poverty strategies.
11. Lords Amendment 5 would amend clause 9 so as to require the Secretary of State to consult such children and organisations working with or representing children as the Secretary of State thinks fit when preparing a UK strategy.
12. Lords Amendment 7 would amend clause 12 to require the devolved administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland to consult such children and organisations working with or representing children as they think fit when preparing a Scottish strategy or Northern Ireland strategy.
13. Lords Amendment 11 would amend clause 22 to require responsible local authorities to consult such children and organisations working with or representing children as the authority thinks fit when preparing or modifying the joint child poverty strategy.
Lords Amendments 6, 8, 12, 20 and 21
14. Lords Amendments 6, 8 and 12 would have the effect of requiring consultation with parents, and organisations working with or representing parents, when child poverty strategies are prepared. This would mirror the provision that would be made by Lords Amendments 5, 7 and 11 in relation to children, and organisations working with or representing children.
15. Lords Amendment 6 would amend clause 9 to require the Secretary of State to consult such parents and organisations working with or representing parents as the Secretary of State thinks fit when preparing a UK strategy.
16. Lords Amendment 8 would amend clause 12 to require the devolved administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland to consult such parents and organisations working with or representing parents as they think fit when preparing a Scottish strategy or Northern Ireland strategy.
17. Lords Amendment 12 would amend clause 22 to require responsible local authorities to consult such parents and organisations working with or representing parents as the authority thinks fit when preparing or modifying the joint child poverty strategy.
18. Lords Amendments 20 and 21 are consequential amendments. They would ensure that corresponding duties apply after 2020, if necessary.
Lords Amendments 9, 10, 14 and 15
19. Lords Amendments 9 and 10 would remove the definitions of “parent” and “parental responsibility” from clause 17. Lords Amendments 14 and 15 would insert revised definitions of those terms into clause 25 so that the definitions apply for the purposes of the whole Bill and not just Part 1.
20. Lords Amendment 14 would insert a revised definition of “parent” into clause 25. The revised definition would cover not only persons who have “parental responsibility” (as defined by the Children Act 1989 or equivalent Scottish or Northern Ireland legislation), but also persons who do not have parental responsibility but are caring for a child who resides with them. The definition is similar to that in section 576 of the Education Act 1996, but would include the words “with whom a child resides” so as to exclude carers such as childminders who have temporary care of a child.
21. Lords Amendment 9 removes the existing definition of “parent” from subsection (1) of Clause 17.
22. Lords Amendment 15 would insert the definition of “parental responsibility” into clause 25. The substance of the definition would remain unchanged, but the definition would apply for the purposes of the whole Bill. Lords Amendment 10 removes the existing definition of “parental responsibility” from subsection (3) of clause 17.
23. These Lords Amendments would require the Secretary of State, in preparing a UK strategy, to consider measures aimed at all persons who have parental responsibility for a child or who have a child living with them, including ‘family and friends’ carers.
Lords Amendments 13, 16, 17 and 18
24. Lords Amendments 13, 16, 17 and 18 would enable an order under section 512ZB of the Education Act 1996 to provide for free school lunches and milk to be provided to primary school children of parents who are entitled to a prescribed social security benefit without extending the same entitlement to secondary school children within the same family.
25. Lords Amendment 13 would insert a new clause into Part 3 of the Bill. This would amend section 512ZB of the Education Act 1996 to give the Secretary of State (or, in relation to Wales, the Welsh Ministers) an order-making power to extend eligibility for free school meals if the child meets prescribed conditions and the child’s parent is in receipt of a prescribed benefit or allowance. This would, for example, enable the Secretary of State (or the Welsh Ministers) to extend eligibility for free school meals to a primary school child if the child’s parent is entitled to Working Tax Credit and the family has a household income below a specified threshold. Currently the Education Act 1996 allows the Secretary of State (or the Welsh Ministers) to adjust eligibility for free school meals only on the basis of the benefit being received by the parent, rather than the age of the child. It is therefore not possible to use existing powers to extend the entitlement to free school meals to primary school children of parents who are entitled to Working Tax Credit without also extending the entitlement to secondary school children within the same family.
26. Subsection (1)(c) of the new clause would allow an order to be made to extend eligibility for free school meals to a child who meets prescribed conditions and whose parents are receiving a prescribed benefit or allowance or entitled to a prescribed tax credit.
27. Subsection (1)(e) of the new clause would allow an order to be made to extend eligibility for free school meals to a child who meets prescribed conditions and who is receiving a prescribed benefit or allowance or is entitled to a prescribed tax credit.
28. Lords Amendments 16, 17 and 18 are consequential amendments. Lords Amendment 16 would amend clause 28 so that the new clause in Lords Amendment 13 would extend to England and Wales only.
29. Lords Amendments 17 and 18 would amend clause 29 so that the new clause in Lords Amendment 13 would come into force two months after Royal Assent.
Lords Amendment 19
30. Lords Amendment 19 would amend Schedule 1 to give the Child Poverty Commission, rather than the Secretary of State, the power to appoint its deputy chair. The power to appoint the chair would remain with the Secretary of State.
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