My Lords, Amendment 4 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, would require the Government to set out a levelling-up mission to reduce child poverty. Amendment 5 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Stevenage, would compel the Government to relate their missions to the Labour Party’s five priorities. What I am interested in is why child poverty is not in her amendment. Amendment 7 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, would require the Government to set out a mission on health disparities and healthy life expectancy. Amendment 8 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, would require the Government to include the missions and headline metrics from the levelling up White Paper in their first statement of levelling-up missions.
I have made our approach to levelling-up missions extremely clear in this House. They are subject to debate in Parliament, but the specifics of the missions
are not written into law. Missions may need to evolve over time—including to make them more stretching as goals are met and to adapt to policy relevant to the day. We will not put any missions in the Bill. Missions are intended to anchor government policy and decision-making necessary to level up the United Kingdom. Missions should not, however, be set in stone. As the economy adapts, so will the missions reflect the changing environment and lessons learned from past interventions.
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Governments will have to state before Parliament whether they will proceed with existing missions or establish revised missions. This is comparable with other key policy documents—for example, the Government’s mandate to NHS England—which are required to be laid before Parliament but without their contents being rigidly codified in legislation. Similarly, I have given repeated assurances to this House that our first statement of levelling-up missions will contain the missions from the levelling up White Paper.
In relation to health, we have already established a dedicated health mission, as outlined in the levelling up White Paper, with the aim of improving healthy life expectancy across the United Kingdom, improving health, well-being and productivity and reducing pressure on public services. The mission and supporting metrics are set out in detail in the levelling up White Paper and technical annexe and will be formally set out to Parliament in the statement of levelling-up missions.
I will add a bit more on health disparities, because this is important. Health disparities exist across a wide range of conditions, from cancer to mental health, and contribute to stark and unacceptable variation in the number of years people live in good health in the United Kingdom. That is one reason why, in January, the Government announced that they will publish a major conditions strategy, and an interim report on that is due to be published this summer. The strategy will tackle conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England, including cancers, cardiovascular disease, strokes and diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, dementia, mental ill-health and musculoskeletal conditions. The strategy will apply geographical lenses to each condition to address what noble Lords say is important—and the Government agree: to address these regional disparities in health outcomes, supporting the levelling-up missions to improve health and reduce disparities. So we are doing what the noble Baroness wants, and it is in the metrics for the missions on health.
We have listened to the debate on the levelling up White Paper highlighting challenges faced by children from disadvantaged backgrounds and how these vary between and within places. Several missions address factors contributing to child poverty. As I said, the Government have listened to the feedback on this issue, and I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham for their helpful meetings recently.
The Department for Work and Pensions currently publishes local area statistics on children in low- income families. Subject to these continuing to meet our quality standards, they will be cited as a relevant metric in the Government’s statutory reporting on
levelling up. This will be reflected in the Government’s first statement of levelling-up missions following Royal Assent.
The statistics on children in low-income families show the number and proportion of children aged under 16 living in low-income families year by year. The statistics are available on both a relative and an absolute poverty basis, before housing costs. They are available for a wide range of geographical areas, including region, local authority, parliamentary constituency and even down to ward levels. The statistics will show the individual age and gender of children and the family status, giving us a really detailed local picture of poverty in particular areas. DWP has also announced plans to resume work developing an experimental measure of poverty based on the Social Metrics Commission’s innovative work. It is beginning to engage with stake- holders and will publish more information on its plans in due course.
I hope that the assurances and explanations I have given on these matters have reassured the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, that she feels able not to press her amendment, and that others in the group are not moved.