John Hutton interview with CPAG

Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton has used an interview with the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) to defend his welfare reform plans and outline his thinking on the Government’s child poverty targets.

Published today in the June edition of CPAG’s Poverty journal, Mr Hutton also insists that tackling child poverty will be his “number one priority”. And ahead of imminent publication of his Welfare Reform Bill, Hutton defends the Government’s approach, saying:

“Our target to reduce the number of people on incapacity benefit by a million over a decade and our long-term aspiration of a 70 per cent employment rate for lone parents will require continued investment in the years ahead, and it is absolutely right to do that.”

Challenged by CPAG on why benefit sanctions need to be imposed on disabled people who do not comply with the new regime, Hutton adds:

“The important thing to stress is that the new system to replace incapacity benefit must be administered carefully and be sensitive to each individual’s situation – we do not want it to be a punitive regime. And while I appreciate that any major change like this is going to be worrying, I want to reassure people that here is no question at all of them being forced to do something that is inappropriate. Placing increased obligations in the system, with the ultimate consequence of a benefit sanction if people refuse to engage, is primarily designed to ensure that people take part in what are positive and appropriate support programmes.”

Questioned about how the Government will get back on track towards meetings their child poverty targets, Hutton says:

“We need to renew our approach to tackling poverty so we can speed up the progress we have made so far. Across the full range of functions and responsibilities of my department, I want to assess what will be the impact on child poverty of our policies. This autumn, alongside our annual Opportunity for All progress report, we will set out our new strategy for how we can make faster progress to reach our goal of halving child poverty by 2010.”

In response to concerns from CPAG about the fifty per cent of children living in poverty who have one or more parents in paid employment, Hutton says:

“We must always be committed to finding new ways to help the in-work poor. That may mean new ways of encouraging potential second earners in a family into work, continuing to ensure that people will be better off in work than on benefit, and doing more to improve skills and progression in the labour market.”

Pushed on how child poverty can be eradicated without increasing safety-net benefit levels for those who cannot work to the level of the poverty line, Hutton insists:

“I have made clear that we will always consider raising benefit levels where it is appropriate and affordable to do so. Child benefit for the first child has increased by more than 25 per cent in real terms since 1997. And the Chancellor announced a commitment in this year’s Budget to increase the child element of child tax credit at least in line with earnings until the end of this Parliament… But at the heart of our work must be an integrated approach that makes a sustained difference to child poverty. Even increasing benefits in line with average earnings will do little to help families escape poverty if median income is increasing at roughly the same rate.”

Notes

1. The full interview can be read in the June edition of Poverty or online at www.cpag.org.uk/povertyjournal

or

Download the interview with John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (28 KB pdf file)

For further information from CPAG please contact:
Alex Belardinelli
CPAG Press Officer
Tel. 020 7812 5216 or 07816 909302
abelardinelli@cpag.org.uk