Promoting Equality

3. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to promote equality as part of the Government mission to break down barriers to opportunity.

Our recent “Every Child Achieving and Thriving” White Paper sets out our ambition to raise standards for all children and to halve the disadvantage gap between poorer children and their peers at the end of their secondary school career, to make sure that where someone is from does not determine where they end up. We are expanding free school meals and scrapping the two-child limit to lift half a million children out of poverty—that is the difference a Labour Government make.

Poverty and economic inequality scar the education and life chances of children. Is it not right that by lifting the two-child limit, delivering 30 hours of free childcare, rolling out free breakfast clubs and family hubs and opening new school-based nurseries, including at Altrincham Church of England primary school in my constituency, this Government are investing in equality for children, and that that investment will be repaid many times over, when every child has the support they need to reach their full potential?

Yes. Tackling child poverty is not just a moral imperative; it is an investment in our country’s future and in our own economic security. That is why we are determined to give every child the best start in life. The Conservatives might not like that: on their watch record numbers of children were pushed into poverty but this Labour Government will lift half a million children out of poverty.

On the Secretary of State’s watch, the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training in Gosport has now reached around 5%—the highest in 15 years. Is that any wonder when so many of the job opportunities that used to be there for our young people, such as in retail, hospitality, and hair and beauty, are being battered by this Government? Surely one of the best ways to tackle inequality and poverty is to give people the right education and the right job opportunities, so what are her Government and her Department going to do?

We face a serious challenge about the big numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training, and we are committed to tackling that. That is why Alan Milburn is leading a review for this Government of what more we can do to support young people, why we have launched our schools White Paper, why we are investing in further education and why we are expanding new routes into apprenticeships. I would say that this problem did not emerge overnight: it has developed over many years, and the Conservatives would do well to reflect on the contribution that they made to the shocking numbers of young people who are NEET.