The Rt Hon George Osborne, MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
HM Treasury
1, Horseguards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ

29th March 2011

Dear George

I am writing to you about the appalling fact that 1.6 million British children continue to live in severe poverty. I urge you to ensure that the barriers to employment faced by low income parents, such as low wages and high childcare costs, are removed and that those most in need of jobs are given proper support. This should include reversing the decision to cut the childcare element of working tax credit. I further urge you to significantly improve the financial support provided to families in desperate need, going beyond the increases in child tax credits announced so far for 2011 and 2012, and increasing financial support for families who can't work.

I hope you will also agree that unless more detailed information on child poverty is available, it will be difficult to deliver the most effective support possible. I was disappointed to be told, in response to a parliamentary question to the Secretary of State for Education, that the Government only holds information on child poverty at a national or regional level [PQ 45450]. This is particularly unsatisfactory given that Save the Children recently published a report on severe child poverty by local authority area. I hope that in future you will work with your ministerial colleagues to ensure that the Government collects local child poverty data. I further urge the Government to introduce a measure of severe child poverty, as recommended by Frank Field in his review of life chances and poverty, to sit alongside the four income measures set out in the Child Poverty Act.
I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion

Read the Treasury's reply (in two parts: 1 2 )