To ask the Minister for Communities to outline (i) the steps she has taken to address the rising number of children living in both relative and absolute poverty; (ii) her assessment of this trend; and (iii) the conversations she has had with other bodies and Executive Ministers in relation to addressing child poverty.

In order to ensure that government continues to work collectively to tackle the issues faced by children and families impacted by poverty the Executive’s current Child Poverty Strategy, has been extended to May 2022. The most recent Child Poverty Annual Report, for 2019/20, was published on the Department for Communities website in September 2020. It is planned that the Child Poverty Annual Report for 2020/21 will be published in the coming weeks.

An Executive Anti-Poverty Strategy is currently being developed by my Department. It is proposed that the Executive’s actions to address child poverty will be contained within the new Anti-Poverty Strategy. The Anti-Poverty Strategy is being developed using a co-design approach with input from key stakeholders and Executive departments. A Ministerial Steering Group will meet at key points in the development of the Strategy to provide an opportunity for Executive colleagues to discuss progress and agree the way forward. The first Ministerial Steering Group meeting took place on 14 April.

Work to develop the Strategy is continuing at pace, with a public consultation exercise scheduled for later in the year. Further information on the co-design process and timetable can be found at: Social Inclusion Strategies Department for Communities (communities-ni.gov.uk).