Parliamentary Search

Debate on Thursday, 1 May 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Anne McGuire. The answering member was David Mundell.

Child Poverty in Scotland

Debate on a motion to consider the matter of child poverty in Scotland. (Relevant documents: Scottish Affairs Select Committee third report of session 2007-08, HC 277 and the Government’s response thereto, HC 525.)

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
475 c480-543 
Session
2007-08
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Anne McGuire | 475 c481 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I will come on to deal with those issues later. We must recog...
John Robertson | 475 c481 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that linked with poverty is the issue of education, which provides the way...
Show all contributions (155)
Anne McGuire | 475 c481 (Link to this contribution) That is obviously a question for another Administration of a different political party to answer, so...
Pete Wishart | 475 c481 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Minister will describe how the abolition of the 10p starting rate of income tax will hel...
Anne McGuire | 475 c482 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman’s party lacked the commitment to stay up and vote for any of our policies to alle...
Anne Begg | 475 c482 (Link to this contribution) Before the Minister moves on, may I say that extra help for families with children was provided in t...
Anne McGuire | 475 c482-3 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that my hon. Friend has pinpointed the inconsistencies—we have to be careful about th...
Jim Sheridan | 475 c483 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the best qualities of the Scottish people is that regardless o...
Speaker | 475 c483 (Link to this contribution) Order. I hope that we will not go wide of the debate on Scotland and include Malawi. We had better c...
Anne McGuire | 475 c483 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, I take your advice, Madam Deputy Speaker, but solidarity in recognising poverty can have ...
David Cairns | 475 c542 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman went further than that in his original contribution. We need to cons...
Alan Reid | 475 c542 (Link to this contribution) The Minister’s description of the policy is at variance with what it actually is. We propose using e...
David Cairns | 475 c542-3 (Link to this contribution) I have been practising. However, I am afraid that that is as good as it gets for the hon. Gentleman....
David Cairns | 475 c539-42 (Link to this contribution) It is an honour to respond to this debate. I thank all who took part; they made important contributi...
Ben Wallace | 475 c538-9 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, I do not have the time. The hon. Member for Argyll and Bute criticised the Government’s...
David Cairns | 475 c542 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman is willing to give us that figure now, I shall give way.
Ben Wallace | 475 c536-8 (Link to this contribution) Today’s debate has been a welcome opportunity to debate child poverty in Scotland, and the UK Govern...
Pete Wishart | 475 c527 (Link to this contribution) I have only been on my feet for a minute, but yes, of course.
David Cairns | 475 c527 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Pete Wishart | 475 c527-8 (Link to this contribution) I cannot say that I am grateful for the Minister’s intervention, which is the usual pile of rubbish ...
David Cairns | 475 c527 (Link to this contribution) Given that the hon. Gentleman has made about a million interventions, I am surprised that he does no...
Pete Wishart | 475 c528 (Link to this contribution) I am conscious that other Members want to speak, but I will take an intervention if is it brief.
Speaker | 475 c526 (Link to this contribution) Order. That is barely related to the topic in question.
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c526 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady mentions the vulnerable and disabled, but is she confident that all those who were aff...
Pete Wishart | 475 c527 (Link to this contribution) As always, it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Miss Begg), who turns to ...
Anne Begg | 475 c526-7 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and those with children will have been compensated by the child tax cred...
Ian Davidson | 475 c530-3 (Link to this contribution) I believe that the Government have a good record on tackling child poverty, and poverty in general. ...
Pete Wishart | 475 c530 (Link to this contribution) Of course I accept that we have to work in partnership, but the main powers and responsibilities for...
Anne McGuire | 475 c530 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that, in my speech, I said that child poverty is not a matter for the...
Pete Wishart | 475 c529-30 (Link to this contribution) I am very disappointed by the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. I hope that he is not suggesting that t...
Baroness Clark of Kilwinning | 475 c533-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to make a contribution in this debate. I thank the chairman...
Ben Wallace | 475 c528 (Link to this contribution) What is the SNP’s target on reducing poverty now that it is in charge of the Scottish Government?
Mohammad Sarwar | 475 c529 (Link to this contribution) I can see that the hon. Gentleman cares about child poverty. The reduction in prescription charges f...
Pete Wishart | 475 c529 (Link to this contribution) Of course I give way to the Chair of the Select Committee.
Pete Wishart | 475 c528-9 (Link to this contribution) Unfortunately, all that the SNP Government can do is deal with the symptoms of child poverty—the cur...
Tom Clarke | 475 c483 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is an outstanding Minister for the rights of disabled people. Keeping within the remi...
Mike Weir | 475 c483-4 (Link to this contribution) Surely the Minister realises that the money is part of the settlement, or concordat, with local auth...
Anne McGuire | 475 c483 (Link to this contribution) I understand my right hon. Friend’s point. As a result of his parliamentary hearings into the lives ...
Mike Weir | 475 c484 (Link to this contribution) Is the Minister not missing the point? The money went to local authorities—including Labour local au...
Anne McGuire | 475 c484 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman should listen to my words rather than anticipate them. I said that my rig...
Speaker | 475 c484 (Link to this contribution) Order. Hon. Gentlemen know the rules of debate of the Chamber, and should observe them.
Anne McGuire | 475 c484 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is missing the point, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge, Chrys...
Anne Begg | 475 c485 (Link to this contribution) Part of the package of child care is the previous Scottish Executive’s commitment to nursery places ...
Anne McGuire | 475 c484-5 (Link to this contribution) I am not making this up—ordinary people in Scotland, and members of organisations representing disab...
Anne McGuire | 475 c485 (Link to this contribution) It is perfectly legitimate for those of us who hold part of the partnership in delivering jobs and a...
Alistair Carmichael | 475 c480 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will know of the widespread concern among the relevant non-governmental organisations t...
Anne McGuire | 475 c485-6 (Link to this contribution) We are not in total control of the agenda, obviously, but as I will say later in my speech, if I eve...
Alistair Carmichael | 475 c485 (Link to this contribution) Much of the support for child care that the Minister’s Department has provided in recent years for p...
Anne McGuire | 475 c485 (Link to this contribution) We are in partnership with the devolved Administrations in Scotland and other parts of the United Ki...
Jim Sheridan | 475 c485 (Link to this contribution) I remind my hon. Friend that the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen, South (Miss...
Anne McGuire | 475 c486-8 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman would recognise if he had listened to what I have said about the work that we ...
Anne McGuire | 475 c480 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of child poverty in Scotland." I am gratef...
Ben Wallace | 475 c486 (Link to this contribution) How does the Minister reconcile the fact that poverty rates for working-age adults without dependent...
Anne McGuire | 475 c486 (Link to this contribution) No. The result of all these reforms, from employment support to child care to the tax and benefits ...
Anne McGuire | 475 c488 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman want to intervene about the constitutional issue? I thought that he was maki...
David Mundell | 475 c488-90 (Link to this contribution) I very much welcome having a debate on the Floor of the House that focuses on Scotland. Perhaps such...
Anne McGuire | 475 c488 (Link to this contribution) There is sometimes political amnesia. I regret offering the hon. Gentleman the opportunity to interv...
David Mundell | 475 c490 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Lady knows, Opposition Members have made it very clear that they would retain the tax cr...
Sandra Osborne | 475 c490 (Link to this contribution) I do not deny that there have been bureaucratic problems that have caused distress to a number of pe...
Anne Begg | 475 c491 (Link to this contribution) Before the hon. Gentleman moves on from tax credits, I would be interested to hear him clarify the p...
David Mundell | 475 c490-1 (Link to this contribution) It is very clear how the system could be made to work more effectively. It is about giving people th...
David Mundell | 475 c491 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman had been listening to my speech, he would have heard that it is our party’s po...
Alistair Carmichael | 475 c491 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman spoke of ““clawing back”” tax credit overpayments from people who could ill affor...
Anne Begg | 475 c493 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentions incentives to work. Do the lessons that the Conservatives are learning c...
David Mundell | 475 c492-3 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept the hon. Lady’s proposition at all. In fact, her contribution typifies the approach ...
Baroness Clark of Kilwinning | 475 c492 (Link to this contribution) Surely the hon. Gentleman must appreciate that during the 18 years in which his party was in power b...
David Mundell | 475 c491-2 (Link to this contribution) As I have made clear to the House, we believe that the tax credits system should be sorted out. The ...
Jim Sheridan | 475 c491 (Link to this contribution) Following on from the question asked by the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael), ma...
David Mundell | 475 c491 (Link to this contribution) Our position is that where people have identified that they are being overpaid tax credits, they sho...
Mohammad Sarwar | 475 c498 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the hon. Gentleman is well aware that since 1997 the Government, through their positive ap...
Pete Wishart | 475 c498 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right when he states that the objective is to get people back into work in ord...
Mohammad Sarwar | 475 c496-8 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Government for initiating this important debate, and for their positive response to the ...
David Mundell | 475 c493-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has chosen to characterise the Wisconsin scheme in a way that meets her political obje...
Sandra Osborne | 475 c502 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is unreasonable to expect people with mobile phones rather tha...
Alan Reid | 475 c502 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising that important point and I agree with her.
David Cairns | 475 c502 (Link to this contribution) I would be grateful if the hon. Gentleman provided the House with a rough estimate of how much it wo...
Mohammad Sarwar | 475 c498 (Link to this contribution) I accept entirely that it is for the Scottish Government to decide how they want to spend the money....
Tom Clarke | 475 c498 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend, along with me, invite our Scottish National party colleagues to accept not only...
Alan Reid | 475 c500-1 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow, Central (Mr. Sarwar), and I congratulate him...
Tom Clarke | 475 c501 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman will accept my genuine thanks to members of the Liberal Democrat part...
Alan Reid | 475 c501 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the right hon. Gentleman’s intervention. Yes, we are disappointed and urge the Sco...
Alan Reid | 475 c504 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that intervention. She is perfectly correct. Cheap ferry fares sh...
Alan Reid | 475 c504 (Link to this contribution) I certainly welcome its extension to Coll and Tiree. Originally, it was meant only for the Western I...
Baroness Clark of Kilwinning | 475 c504 (Link to this contribution) On that point, I fully appreciate why the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr. MacNeil) might b...
Alan Reid | 475 c502-3 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. He raises a serious problem. The charging regi...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c503 (Link to this contribution) I hear what the hon. Gentleman says about the rising cost of fuel. Is he minded to support the Scott...
Alan Reid | 475 c502 (Link to this contribution) We would utilise the jobcentres and buildings that are already there, but the Government are taking ...
Mike Weir | 475 c502 (Link to this contribution) I very much agree with the hon. Gentleman. Like me, he represents a rural area, so does he recognise...
Alan Reid | 475 c504 (Link to this contribution) I shall certainly give way to the hon. Gentleman if he will explain why he believes that poor childr...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c504 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman well knows that the Liberal Democrats sat on their hands for eight years. Does he...
Alan Reid | 475 c503 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman bears with me, I shall come to that issue shortly. There is a risk that child...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c511 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady welcome the fact that accident and emergency units were saved by the SNP Governme...
Sandra Osborne | 475 c509-11 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I was going to say that I am aware that only people in Scotland can...
Alistair Carmichael | 475 c509 (Link to this contribution) A constituent of mine has been in exactly the same position and has experienced exactly the same tre...
Alan Reid | 475 c504-5 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I will move on. If the hon. Member for Na h-Eileana...
David Cairns | 475 c505 (Link to this contribution) Or even showdown, who knows? The hon. Gentleman began his speech by saying that issues of poverty ar...
Sandra Osborne | 475 c505-9 (Link to this contribution) I begin by congratulating the Scottish Affairs Committee on its valuable work on poverty. It is some...
Alan Reid | 475 c504 (Link to this contribution) I shall give him one more chance to explain why ferry users from Colonsay have to pay high fares, wh...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c504 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps a more pertinent question would be: why did the hon. Gentleman’s party wait for eight years?...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c512-4 (Link to this contribution) I hear your words clearly, Mr. Deputy Speaker: this debate is about child poverty. I hope that my co...
Speaker | 475 c512 (Link to this contribution) Order. The average length of Back-Bench speeches is running at 22 minutes. There is a limit on our t...
Sandra Osborne | 475 c512 (Link to this contribution) In conclusion, may I cite the introduction to ““Scotland the Real Divide””, which was published 25 y...
Michael Connarty | 475 c512 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is listing some of the cuts that are occurring and will affect the most impoverished....
Speaker | 475 c512 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman has come into the debate just at this juncture, and he makes an interventi...
Sandra Osborne | 475 c511-2 (Link to this contribution) I take your point, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and I shall try to be as quick as possible, so that other hon...
Sandra Osborne | 475 c511 (Link to this contribution) I do, but unfortunately they were saved at the expense of a new cancer care unit and two community h...
David Mundell | 475 c511 (Link to this contribution) I am interested to hear what the hon. Lady is saying, and some of her points are very relevant. Perh...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c514 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I missed the hon. Gentleman’s last point. Perhaps he would repeat it.
Jim Sheridan | 475 c514 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman identifies an aim, not an objective. Having read the report, I did not see any su...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c514 (Link to this contribution) That is true. The Scottish Government’s aim, as part of their economic strategy, is to raise the pr...
Mike Weir | 475 c515 (Link to this contribution) Before my hon. Friend moves on to the subject of the DWP, does he agree that the decision by the new...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c514-5 (Link to this contribution) The UNICEF table might provide some help to the hon. Gentleman. Ireland, which has become independen...
Jim Sheridan | 475 c514 (Link to this contribution) I did not see anywhere in the report the suggestion that an independent Scotland would improve child...
Tom Clarke | 475 c518-9 (Link to this contribution) I am genuinely glad that the hon. Gentleman made that point. I tell him in all candour, and I hope h...
Mohammad Sarwar | 475 c519 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that the extra money given to local authorities in Scotland was used...
Tom Clarke | 475 c519-20 (Link to this contribution) I have to say that, frankly, that is the conclusion that the Secretary of State for Children, School...
Pete Wishart | 475 c520 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on the tenacious way in which he has gone about dealing with...
Tom Clarke | 475 c517-8 (Link to this contribution) I trust that the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr. MacNeil) will forgive me if I do not foll...
Tom Clarke | 475 c518 (Link to this contribution) I wanted to take on board the point that the hon. Gentleman made earlier, but I am happy to give way...
Mike Weir | 475 c518 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. I have great respect for him and his work on disabl...
Tom Clarke | 475 c520 (Link to this contribution) I do trust local authorities. As a former provost and former president of the Convention of Scottish...
Speaker | 475 c525 (Link to this contribution) Order. We really do not want a battle of this kind going on if we can help it. We do not want to tal...
Anne Begg | 475 c525 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Much of this afternoon’s discussion has been based on the report of ...
Alistair Carmichael | 475 c526 (Link to this contribution) I am not particularly familiar with the situation in Aberdeen, but will she tell me what proposals w...
Speaker | 475 c526 (Link to this contribution) Order. We cannot have all these sedentary remarks being made across the Chamber, as it really hamper...
Anne Begg | 475 c526 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I suspect that I am getting off the subject as well, so I shall move ...
Alistair Carmichael | 475 c523 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that you are indeed acquainted, as I am, with the problems that share fisherman face, Mr. ...
Anne Begg | 475 c524-5 (Link to this contribution) Given the time constraints, I shall simply refer to some of the points that I was going to make, whi...
Mike Weir | 475 c525 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady mentions closures, so will she condemn the Unionist coalition on Angus council, of whi...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c520 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Gentleman tell us whether any wheelchair users in England are encountering simila...
Tom Clarke | 475 c520-1 (Link to this contribution) Yes, undoubtedly. Our report said that they happen throughout the United Kingdom, which is why we ar...
Tom Clarke | 475 c520 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way for the last time, because other people want to speak.
Alistair Carmichael | 475 c523 (Link to this contribution) I am under some time pressure, so I will not take the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. There is anoth...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c523 (Link to this contribution) If I could jump to the Minister’s aid, I know that her son is a share fisherman in Barra. As you wil...
Alistair Carmichael | 475 c521-3 (Link to this contribution) It is genuinely a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (M...
Mike Weir | 475 c523 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Michael Connarty | 475 c520 (Link to this contribution) On the link between poverty and wheelchair use, the chairman of one of the wheelchair users campaign...
Tom Clarke | 475 c520 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an absolutely excellent point.
Speaker | 475 c504 (Link to this contribution) Order. I realise that I might be taking my life into my hands, but I venture to suggest that we are ...
Speaker | 475 c511 (Link to this contribution) Order. I hope that the hon. Lady will not go down that road. I have not heard too much on the specif...
Alan Reid | 475 c505 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for that intervention. Like him, I can think of no good reason, and I ...
Anne Begg | 475 c525 (Link to this contribution) If I remember correctly, when the SNP was in control in Angus, it was also closing rural schools—[In...
Anne Begg | 475 c526 (Link to this contribution) It has turned out to be terribly difficult for us to find out exactly where all the figures came fro...
Mike Weir | 475 c488 (Link to this contribution) I am surprised at what the Minister has said. The Scottish Government are very keen to make progress...
Mike Weir | 475 c498 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that the concordat into which the Scottish Government and local a...
Mohammad Sarwar | 475 c499-500 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my right hon. Friend. I am sure that the Executive will do the right thing—apologise an...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 475 c515-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is correct. When I taught on the Isle of Mull in the mid-1990s, housing was a particu...
Subjects
Children Families Poverty Low pay Scotland Taxation
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk