 245,000 (23%) of dependent 0–17 year olds were living in income poverty defined using a fixed-line threshold measure of below 60% of the 2007 median income after housing costs were taken into consideration;  14% of children are going without basic essentials like fresh fruit and vegetables, a warm house and decent clothing;  9% of children are in severe poverty; and  3 out of 5 children living in current poverty live in persistent poverty. 26. Every year over 40,000 children are hospitalized due to illness with a socio-economic gradient. Poverty rates for those in the Māori and Pacific ethnic groups are consistently higher than for those in the European/Pakeha ethnic group (roughly double), whatever measure is used.11 27. The focus on child poverty was strongly reflected in New Zealand’s second UPR. Thirteen child poverty related recommendations were made, all of which were accepted by the New Zealand government. 28. In December 2012 the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty (“EAG”) - a group of independent experts commissioned by the Children’s Commissioner – issued a report containing 78 recommendations that covered a range of areas, including social security benefits and tax credits, housing policy, legislative mechanisms, education and child care, health, employment and community strategies.12 29. The government has introduced new policy measures that reflect the EAG recommendations. These have included support for food-in-schools programmes, a small increase in social security benefits (albeit accompanied by more onerous worktesting requirements and tougher sanctions for non-compliance) and increasing the age threshold for free primary healthcare for children from 6 years to 13 years. Furthermore, following the general election in late 2014, the Prime Minister indicated that developing further strategies to address child poverty would be a major focus on the incoming government.13 30. However, to date the government is yet to take any steps towards developing a systemic approach to reducing household income poverty and its impact on child health and wellbeing. The EAG recommended that the Government develop a systemic, whole-of- 11 Perry, B., (August, 2015), Household Incomes Report 2014, Wellington: MSD. http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/monitoring/householdincomes/index.html 12 http://www.occ.org.nz/assets/Uploads/EAG/Final-report/Final-report-Solutions-to-child-poverty-evidencefor-action.pdf 13 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10535794/Child-poverty-on-Key-agenda 8