It was an honour to host a Living Wage event in Parliament today and I was pleased to see so many of my colleagues there. The good news is that we have 3600 national living wage employers since it was introduced in April 2016 with over 1000 employers joining in the last 12 months. Of these, one third are on the FTSE 100 with the help of the Living Wage tool kit. But we still have a long way to go. To beat poverty, we need a strong economy and we need continuous cooperation with businesses as the solution rather than the problem. We need to find a way to balance the objectives of economic growth while providing sustainable employment. The country has coped with the introduction of the national minimum wage, so the national living wage is definitely achievable. But we also need to give businesses the time to adjust to these new measures and I congratulate AVIVA and KMPG for taking a lead on this and for sponsoring the event in Parliament. I am delighted to be associated with the Living Wage foundation campaign, which has changed the lives of many people on low incomes. I am also very keen to work with the foundation and living wage employers in my role as the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Poverty, to develop a business tool kit that will share best practice between employers, on how they can relieve the impacts of poverty on those affected.