Deputy PM Oliver Dowden and deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner have clashed on child poverty at PMQs
Labour's Rayner says more children are living in temporary accommodation and are being "pushed into poverty"
Dowden says he won't take lectures from Labour - saying the government has made record investment in education
The SNP's Mhairi Black criticises the government's economic record, saying people need help now with mortgage rates
Dowden says the priority is halving inflation from its rate of 10% at the start of the year
Dowden is standing in for Rishi Sunak at PMQs, as the PM misses the session for the sixth time
The PM is at the Nato summit in Lithuania, where he has been holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Answering her previous question, Rayner says 55,000 more children are now without a permanent address.
She says the Conservatives are offering excuses and not answers.
She asks how they can be so complacent, 27 years on since then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott asked the question.
Labour's Rayner says her counterpart can't solve child poverty if he doesn't acknowledge the problem.
She asks a different question - how many kids don't have a permanent address today, compared to when Labour left office in 2010.
Dowden says they can exhange all these number across the despatch box but "these are the numbers that matter".
He says 1.7m fewer people are in absolute poverty under the Conservative government, including 400,000 fewer children, 200,000 fewer pensioners and 1 million fewer people of working age.
"Because the single best route out of poverty is a job and record numbers of people - 4 million more people - under this government have got a job," he says.
Dowden says the government has provided record investment in education - £2bn more this year and next.
It has also paved the way for the highest reading standards in the Western world, he adds.
After Labour leader Keir Starmer said he was not keen on "tree huggers", Dowden says he seems very keen on "hugging the magic money tree".
Image source, House of CommonsRayner accuses the Tories of crashing the economy.
She says Dowden is oblivious to what it is like for working people and says 400,000 more children of primary school age are growing up in poverty.
She asks why he thinks that is.
Image source, House of CommonsDowden says it is the Conservatives who extended free school meals to all five-, six- and seven-year-olds, which he says Labour failed to do.
He adds the government have supported people with energy bills, frozen fuel duty and are helping families with childcare.
Balancing the books means more than working out how much money to take from her union paymasters, Dowden concludes.
Rayner says rising bills and soaring mortgages are pushing families to the brink.
How many primary school children have been pushed into poverty since the Tories came to power, she asks.
Dowden says this government has lifted 400,000 children out of poverty, introduced a national living wage and increased it by the largest amount ever.
This has given working people an extra £1,800 a year and cut their taxes, he adds.
Rayner responds saying the last Labour government worked hard to reduce children in temporary accommodation.
She says the number has risen by 75% under the Conservative government.
She asks the Dowden if he feels ashamed of the Tories' record.
Oliver Dowden answers by saying Rayner clearly hasn't listened to his recent comments, which said Sunak is at the Nato summit.
He notes if her old boss were in charge - referring to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - the UK would have abandoned Ukraine and Nato altogether.
Dowden adds that if it wasn't for Margaret Thatcher his parents wouldn't have been able to buy a home, hailing the Conservatives record on housebuilding.
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner begins by telling MPs that the last time a prime minister missed two PMQs in a row was March 1996.
She says then Labour deputy leader John Prescott had asked why tens of thousands of families were facing repossession and homelessness.
Why am I having to ask the same questions 27 years later, she asks.
Opening the session, Dowden says the PM Rishi Sunak is in Vilnius attending the Nato summit.
He says this is an "opportunity to build on work in the past year strengthening Nato and supporting Ukraine".
Pete Saull
Political correspondent
It’s noticeably quieter than usual in the chamber for PMQs today.
It’s perhaps partially down to the fact that for the second week running, the deputies are standing in.
But for what is usually the main event of the week in Westminster, the sight of empty green benches will take some getting used to.
Rishi Sunak is busy with the Nato summit in Lithuania, so his deputy Oliver Dowden is at the despatch box as Prime Minister’s Questions begins.
The deputy prime minister is taking questions from Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner before other MPs come in.
We’ll bring you all the latest lines right here.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden has arrived in the House of Commons and is about to face questions from Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner and other MPs.
We’ll bring you the latest developments, but you can also follow every twist and turn live by tapping the play button at the top of this page.
Iain Watson
Political correspondent
Westminster has been rife with speculation over public sector pay – with the recommendations of the public sector pay review bodies expected soon.
There have been warnings from Nos 10 and 11 that the government won’t borrow to fund generous increases.
Labour's Angela Rayner – whose sprawling portfolio of responsibilities encompasses workers’ rights – could seek to create clear blue (or red) water with the government on this issue.
But she has a little local difficulty.
The shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has been emphasising that Labour wouldn’t borrow to fund day-to-day spending.
And her edict applies to the deputy leader as much as any other member of the shadow cabinet.
So Angela Rayner can’t say Labour would accept the pay review body recommendations in full.
But at her stand-in appearances at PMQs she tends to reflect the views and concerns of Labour’s base.
So there are other ways to hammer home her message that Labour is standing up for those who are struggling.
One possibility is she highlights the persistent problem of child poverty, and links this to wider concerns on the cost of living.
Oliver Dowden’s likely riposte is that the Opposition can’t be trusted with the economy - a charge Rachel Reeves wants to insulate her party from, which bring us back to Labour’s reluctance to commit to specific pay increases.
One issue that could well come up at PMQs is the Illegal Migration Bill, the government's flagship measure to "stop the boats" - curb migrant Channel crossings.
Yesterday, in a series of votes, the Commons - where the Conservatives have a large majority - overturned no fewer than 20 changes to the bill made by the House of Lords.
The bill aims to deter people from making the crossing by toughening up the rules and conditions around seeking asylum, and proposing to deport many such migrants to Rwanda.
Some senior Tory MPs, including former PM Theresa May, have criticised the bill, along with peers from many parties in the Lords.
It now returns there for peers to consider trying to make further changes before sending the legislation back to the Commons.
Today is the 31st PMQs of Rishi Sunak's premiership - and the sixth he has missed.
His reasons for missing the weekly question session have included attending the G20 Summit in Bali, the G7 summit in Japan and the funeral of Baroness Betty Boothroyd.
Last week Sunak was attending a celebration of the NHS at Westminster Abbey. This week he is at the Nato Summit in Lithuania.
Former Deputy PM Dominic Raab has previously been the stand-in as well as Oliver Dowden who is doing the honours today.
At a committee hearing last week, Sunak defended his absences saying he wasn't in control of summit timetables.
Taking his place for the second week will be his deputy. Oliver Dowden. Angela Rayner steps in for Labour leader Keir Starmer, while Mhairi Black will be representing the SNP.
Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set out his five priorities for 2023 in a speech on 4 January. And here they are:
BBC Verify's Anthony Reuben has taken a look at what progress the Conservatives have made on them.
Image source, PA MediaIn recent weeks, Labour have been focusing on issues around the economy and cost of living at PMQs, so there could be more of the same from Angela Rayner.
One issue that could come up is public sector pay. With a wave of strikes continuing, Rishi Sunak has said he is yet to decide whether to accept recommended rises from official pay review bodies, thought to be between 6-6.5%, for employees including teachers, junior doctors and police.
There is also the stickiness of high inflation and the rising interest rates being used to try to curb it. This morning, the Bank of England warned that mortgage payments would rise by at least £500 a month for nearly 1m households between the end of this year and 2026.
With Sunak away in Lithuania at the Nato summit, there might be some unaninimity on Ukraine, if it features.
Heather Sharp
Live reporter
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of this week's PMQs.
It's Deputy PM Oliver Dowden and deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner facing off again - for the second week running. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in Lithuania for a Nato summit, after last week attending a service marking 75 years of the NHS.
With just one more week after this one until the MPs' summer recess, there are plenty of issues bubbling away - from mortgages, inflation and the cost of living, to immigration and public sector pay.
Stay with us for live updates and analysis.
Image source, PA Media