4.This section sets a range of broad aims which, if pursued, are likely to contribute to the eradication of child poverty. These broad aims apply for the purposes of further provision made under Part 1. The aims are specified in paragraphs (a) to (m) of subsections (2) and they include aims which relate to household income, material deprivation and social factors relevant to the causes of child poverty. The main purpose of this list of aims is to set the field from which specified public authorities in Wales (see section 6) must choose objectives for inclusion in their child poverty strategies (see section 2).
5.Subsection (8) makes provision for the broad aims to be amended by order of the Welsh Ministers. Orders under this subsection are subject to an affirmative resolution procedure in the Assembly before they are made, which means that they must be approved by the Assembly before they are made (see section 74(5)).
6.Subsections (3) and (4) specify that the “relevant income groups” referred to in the aims in subsections (2)(a) and (b) are income groups defined by reference to the UK median household income. The broad aim in subsection (2)(a) is that there should be no household with children where the household income is less than 60 per cent of the median household income in the United Kingdom. The broad aim of subsection (2)(b) is that no children living in households where income is less than 70 per cent of the UK median household income should be “materially deprived”.
7.Welsh Ministers may make regulations to say how median income and material deprivation are determined for these purposes.
8.Subsection (6) makes provision in the event that the duty on Welsh authorities to prepare a strategy comes into force before any regulations are made under subsection (5). In that event, Welsh authorities must take their own view on what the material deprivation and median-related indicators mean.