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Poverty: Children

Asked by Jim ShannonDemocratic Unionist PartyDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 19 December 2025UIN 98768

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to publish a further equalities impact assessment of the Child Poverty Strategy, which will include the potential impact of the strategy on groups at highest risk of poverty.

Answered by Dame Diana Johnson

A full summary Equalities Analysis was published alongside the Strategy and is available at: Child Poverty Strategy: Summary Equalities Analysis - GOV.UK.

The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

The ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow. The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026, with annual reporting on progress thereafter.

As set out in our Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, we will continue to work closely with the devolved governments to complement existing monitoring and evaluation activity, and consider how best to feed in their own findings to track progress at both the local and national level, particularly where powers are devolved.

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