Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 1 – National Targets, Strategies and Reports (Sections 1 to 18) Section 9: UK strategies
37.Section 9 (subsection (1)) places a duty on the Secretary of State to publish and lay before Parliament a UK child poverty strategy, within 12 months of Royal Assent.
38.Subsection (2)(a) provides that a UK strategy must set out the measures that the Secretary of State proposes to take in order to comply with the duty in section 2 to meet the targets (in sections 3 to 6). Subsection (2)(b) provides that the strategy must also set out measures to be taken to ensure as far as possible that children in the UK do not experience socio-economic disadvantage.
39.Subsection (3) concerns the contribution of the devolved administrations to the UK strategy. It provides that the UK strategy may refer to proposals made by the devolved administrations.
40.Subsection (4) requires that before the end of the period to which a UK strategy relates, the Secretary of State must review the strategy and publish and lay before Parliament a revised UK strategy. Strategies must be published every 3 years; however, there is no requirement to publish revised strategies after the beginning of the target year.
41.Subsection (5) provides that in preparing a UK strategy the Secretary of State must consider whether measures ought to be taken in relation to the main areas of policy for tackling child poverty. They are: parental employment and skills; financial support; provision of information, advice and assistance to parents and promotion of parenting skills; physical and mental health, education and social services; and housing, the built and natural environment and the promotion of social inclusion.
42.Subsection (6) provides that in preparing a UK strategy the Secretary of State must consider which groups of children in the UK appear to be disproportionately affected by socio-economic disadvantage, and to consider the likely impact of any proposed measures in the policy areas listed in subsection (5) on children within these groups.
43.Subsection (7) concerns the required content of the strategy. Subsection (7)(a)(i) provides that the Secretary of State must describe the progress towards each of the targets in sections 3 to 6 that he thinks is needed over the period covered by the strategy in order to reach the targets by the end of the target year. Subsection (7)(a)(ii) requires the Secretary of State to set out in the strategy the progress that he intends to make in the period covered by the strategy in achieving the aim of ensuring as far as possible that children do not experience socio-economic disadvantage.
44.Subsection (7)(b) requires the Secretary of State to set out in the strategy the progress (other than that which is a result of ensuring that the targets are met) he intends to make by the end of the target year in ensuring as far as possible that children do not experience socio-economic disadvantage. This provision is aimed at children, such as those living in communal establishments or institutions, who are not included in the targets in sections 3 to 6. In this way the Act addresses poverty experienced by all children, and is not limited to children whose circumstances can be measured by the targets in sections 3 to 6.
45.Subsection (8)(a) requires a revised UK strategy to describe the measures taken in accordance with the previous UK strategy, or in accordance with strategies prepared by the devolved administrations. A revised UK strategy must also describe the effect that those measures had on progress towards meeting the targets in sections 3 to 6 (subsection (8)(b)) and other effects of those measures on the aim of ensuring as far as possible that children do not experience socio-economic disadvantage (subsection (8)(c)).
46.Subsection (9) provides that the period to which a strategy relates is three years from the date on which the UK strategy is laid before Parliament, except when a strategy is laid before Parliament less than three years before the beginning of the target year, in which case the period runs from the date it was laid until the end of the target year.