CHILD POVERTY AND BENEFITS

That this House welcomes the Government's commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020; applauds the fall in the number of children in poverty by 700,000 since 1999, but notes with concern that this figure was 300,000 short of the Government's stated target; suggests that an effective policy to achieve the target would be to disregard child benefit as income for the purposes of assessing housing benefit and council tax benefit; further notes that according to Department of Work and Pensions' figures the cost of implementing such a policy would be £300 million; and urges the Government to consider the introduction of such a policy as soon as possible.