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<p>The Government is committed to tackling poverty in all its forms by building a
strong economy and a benefit system that supports employment and higher pay. A child
growing up in a home where all adults are working is around 5 times less likely to
be in poverty than a child in a household where nobody works. Since 2010, there are
around 1 million fewer workless households and 667,000 fewer children in such households.</p><p>To
help make sure every child gets the best start in life, the Department for Education
is investing up to £26 million in a programme to establish or improve breakfast clubs
in over 1,700 schools, targeting most disadvantaged areas. The programme’s effectiveness
will be reviewed once it concludes next year. Additionally, over 1.2 million of the
most disadvantaged children receive a free school meal.</p><p>The Government has not
made an assessment of the incidence of food banks or similar charity-based provision
in England and Wales. However, new questions have been added to the Family Resources
Survey to develop a food insecurity measure from 2021 to help better understand the
drivers of food insecurity and identify which groups are most at risk.</p><p>This
Government spend more on family benefits than any other country in the G7, at 3.5%
of GDP (OECD, 2015 data), demonstrating a commitment to providing a strong safety
net for those that need it.</p>
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