Daily roundup: Child poverty, spending cuts and Sandwell suspension

The government’s adviser on child poverty has criticised proposed changes to the way it is measured. The Guardian reports that former Labour minister Alan Milburn, the chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, wants ministers to rethink the plans as the current proposals are “muddled and unclear”. The commission’s response to the consultation on child poverty measures said it looks increasingly unlikely that the government will meet child poverty targets and called for household income levels to be maintained as the central measure of child poverty.

Spending by the Department for Education will be cut by around £850m in 2015/16, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has estimated. The calculation assumed that cuts to government departments will be spread out evenly and that, as promised in last week's Budget, school and health funding will not be cut. IPPR director Nick Pearce said: “If these cuts go ahead, it means major further reductions in spending on housing, further and higher education, early years and other local government services.”