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Lone Parent Employment

: That tends to be my view. I have looked a little at the experience in America, where the system involves much more compulsion, and at the impact of that. As in the rest of the welfare reform Green Paper, our purpose is not to cut the benefits bill, much as we would like to use our resources more creatively and positively to invest in services such as education and health. Our purpose is to tackle child poverty and to provide opportunities—in this instance, for many lone parents locked into benefit dependence, who experience all the fears that were so brilliantly expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Kali Mountford).