Paul Boateng has used his maiden speech in the Lords to raise fears that the coalition government's Budget will led to poorer services for children in care.
Labour's Lord Boateng, the UK's first black cabinet minister, he made his comments in a debate on the effect on the poor from the emergency Budget.
Lord Boateng expressed concerns about the removal of ring-fencing in terms of local authority grants.
He called on the government: "Please, in the course of the spending review that must take place, that is taking place, make sure that there is a stream of work that looks at the impact of the budgetary provisions on those children in care, children at risk and voluntary organisations who will be affected by the rise in VAT."
Lord Boateng also asked about the impact of the budget on children in care and those at risk, adding that that Children's Commissioner should be strengthened.
Opening the debate, Labour former work and pensions minister Lord McKenzie of Luton said the government had chosen to raise VAT levels instead of "targeted taxes on the assets and in comes of the wealthiest".
He said the "deduction in housing benefit is entirely arbitrary" and added that uprating all benefits and pensions by CPI would result in the fall in their real-terms value. He also spoke about the impact on women.
Lord McKenzie told peers: "It is clear that on proper scrutiny the 2010 budget was deeply regressive, cutting benefits, reducing tax credits for families on low and moderate incomes, short changing pensions and pensioners, exacerbating homelessness, choosing regressive taxes. These are choices that did not have to be made."
Making her maiden speech, Labour peer Baroness Donaghy talked about how the theme of poverty had arisen in her previous roles.
She hoped Britain's "relatively low-wage society" would be tackled by the government.
"Average earnings of £24,000 a year include paid overtime-mainly done by men-and City bonuses. That completely distorts the real situation," she said.
Responding to the debate, welfare reform minister Lord Freud discussed welfare and contended that the "case for urgent reform is clear".
"Many of the measures in the emergency Budget were taken in the face of a potential eurozone economic crisis," he said.
"And this was a legacy which we inherited from the previous administration, with borrowing forecast at a stunning £14bn this year, the second largest in Europe."
Focusing on the housing benefit changes, Lord Freud said they would "reset the balance, making housing benefit fairer and creating reasonable incentives for people to move into work".
He stated the government was committed to "eradicating child poverty by 2020", as well as supporting those with severe disabilities and older people.
And he sought to assure peers: "The Budget package has no statistically significant impact on child poverty over the next two years."
Lord Freud added: "This is a progressive Budget, with every part of society contributing to deal with the deficit, but the rich are paying more than the poorest."
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.