To ask the Minister for Communities whether there will be any measures in the revised welfare mitigations to prevent the continued application of the two child limit.

Ms Hargey

Thanks very much for the question. The New Decade, New Approach deal committed to a review of future welfare mitigation measures. I am finalising proposals for the review, and I plan to make a formal announcement on how it will be taken forward in due course. Details of the review will be shared with the Committee for Communities at the earliest opportunity, and members will be afforded the chance to present their views on the proposal. I am not yet in a position to provide the specific details on the issues that will be covered in the review; however, I can confirm that mitigation of the two-child policy will be considered. That is part of the considerations. The overarching purpose will be to identify the need to develop a prioritised mitigation package that will be costed and assessed for affordability. I am committed to the principles of co-design and the desire to embed human rights in all that the Department does, and that will be an integral part in the development of any new mitigation measures. It is therefore planned to include representatives of the independent advice sector and other groups that have an interest in social security at all stages. We know that, on 6 April 2017, the British Government introduced a limit on support for a maximum of two children. Families are not able to claim a child element for a third or subsequent child born on or after 6 April 2017. There are a number of exceptions to the two-child limit. I recognise that children living in poverty are subject to poorer outcomes in education, health and other opportunities, and I want to look at how we can close those gaps to allow children to prosper and participate fully in society. There are few things more important than the well-being of children and young people, and, as part of the review of welfare mitigations on the two-child policy that are being considered, I want to bring forward the new proposals as soon as possible.

Ms Hargey

Yes, I covered that in an earlier answer; I am not sure whether the Member was in the Chamber. There is a commitment to have a draft paper ready for December, and there were delays at the start of last year due to the pandemic. On the social strategies — the child poverty and anti-poverty strategies — we have engaged a group of academics and experts who are trying to bring together all the information and data. We are engaging in a co-design panel with people who represent and have a voice in dealing with those issues. We will bring forward recommendations for the next stages of the policy by December, subject to Executive approval.

As I touched on earlier, the expert panel that has been established for the child poverty strategy is considering whether it needs to be a stand-alone policy or can be knitted into the wider anti-poverty strategy. We are looking at those issues, and I will update the Committee and Members as the expert panels that are looking at those two important strategies come forward with their work. We also want to continue to engage the sector because lessons have been learned, even as a result of the pandemic. One of those is about the impact of the pandemic on women and children. We want to look at using gender lenses and to gender proof all the strategies. I am keen to engage and will engage with some of the key sectors. I will also look at some of the lessons from the pandemic and at how they feed into the poverty strategy work. Indeed, I am sure that members of the expert panel, who are embedded in that work regularly, will also be thinking about those issues so that lessons can be learned, and we do not lose anything from the strategies that are coming forward. There is a commitment to complete that work and present it by December.

Mr Principal Deputy Speaker

That concludes the period for listed questions. We now move on to 15 minutes of topical questions.