Child poverty in the North West

That this House is alarmed by the increase in level of child poverty in the North West, with research from Loughborough University showing that 30 per cent of children in the region live in poverty; is further alarmed by statistics showing that, across the UK, 76 per cent of children living in poverty are from a working household and that there is a 28 per cent gap between children receiving free school meals and their wealthier peers in terms of achieving five A*-C GCSE grades; warns that the current proposal in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill will not be adequate to properly address child poverty; and calls on the Government to introduce better-targeted and more-extensive efforts to ensure that child poverty is eradicated, so that the levelling-up agenda can be successful in every region of the UK, including the North West.