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1699235

	registered interest
	date	26/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, following the child poverty statistics published on 21 March, what plans they have to initiate a cross-government strategy to address child poverty.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon
	uin	HL3625
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2024 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions already works consistently across Government to support the most vulnerable households. This includes a cross-government senior officials’ group on poverty.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 08/04/2024 15:05:07 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4290 label Biography information for Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon

1698299

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, following the release of data showing that the number of children living in absolute poverty has risen by the highest rate in 30 years, what steps they are taking to address the increase in child poverty rates.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL3603
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2024 answer text <p>These statistics cover 2022/23, a year when war in Ukraine and global supply chain challenges led to unexpected and high rates on inflation, averaging 10% over the year. These factors are reflected in the statistics. In response to these pressures, the Government provided an unprecedented cost of living support package which helped to shield households from the impact of inflation. Analysis shows that the Government’s cost of living support prevented 1.3 million people from falling into absolute poverty after housing costs in 2022/23. That includes 300,000 children, 600,000 working-age adults and 400,000 pensioners.</p><p> </p><p>Since the period covered by these statistics, the Government has taken firm action to support families on the lowest incomes. The Government has spent around £276bn through the welfare system in 2023/24, including around £125bn on people of working age and children. We took action to support those on the lowest incomes by uprating benefits and State Pensions by 10.1% from April 2023. We are continuing to support people in 2024/25 by uprating working age benefits by 6.7% and raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30<sup>th</sup> percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.</p><p> </p><p>With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2022/23, children living in workless households were over 6 times more likely to be in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than those where all adults work.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 08/04/2024 15:00:05 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1698026

	registered interest
	date	21/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Markham on 11 March (HL Deb col 1802), and taking account of the latest Households Below Average Income data, which shows a 300,000 increase in the number of children living in absolute poverty in the past year, what assessment they have made of the impact on health and well-being of the two-child limit for child benefit; and what assessment they have made of the strengths and weaknesses of using the measure of absolute poverty rather than relative poverty.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Leicester
	uin	HL3520
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/03/2024 answer text <p>It is not possible to produce a robust assessment of the impact of the two-child limit.</p><p> </p><p>Child Benefit continues to be paid for all children in eligible families.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Relative poverty sets a threshold as a proportion of the UK median income and moves each year as average income changes.</p><p>Typically, a household is in relative poverty if its income is less than 60 per cent of the median household income.</p><p>Absolute poverty, by our definition, is a threshold as a proportion of the UK average income in a given year (2010/11) and moves each year in line with inflation.</p><p> </p><p>This government prefers to look at Absolute poverty over Relative poverty as relative poverty can provide counter-intuitive results.</p><p>Relative poverty is likely to fall during recessions, due to falling median incomes. Under this measure, poverty can decrease even if people are getting poorer.</p><p>The absolute poverty line is fixed in real terms, so will only ever worsen if people are getting poorer, and only ever improve if people are getting richer.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 27/03/2024 16:34:59 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4947 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Leicester

1696836

	registered interest
	date	18/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) Unicef and (b) the United Nations Rapporteur on extreme poverty on initiatives to tackle child poverty.
	tabling member constituency	East Lothian
	tabling member printed	Kenny MacAskill
	uin	19206
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2024 answer text <p>DWP officials engage with a wide range of stakeholders including UNICEF.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 25/03/2024 12:24:00 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4772 label Biography information for Kenny MacAskill

1696827

	registered interest
	date	18/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of children living in (a) absolute and (b) relative poverty per constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	East Lothian
	tabling member printed	Kenny MacAskill
	uin	19198
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2024 answer text <p>Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty per constituency are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication and can be found in tabs “6_Absolute_ParlC” and “5_Relative_ParlC” at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2023" target="_blank">Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>. The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.</p><p> </p><p>The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore<strong>: </strong><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 25/03/2024 12:19:27 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4772 label Biography information for Kenny MacAskill

1696825

	registered interest
	date	18/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of children living in (a) absolute and (b) relative poverty in each year since 2007 in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales, (iv) Northern Ireland and (v) the UK.
	tabling member constituency	East Lothian
	tabling member printed	Kenny MacAskill
	uin	19197
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2024 answer text <p>Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty per country in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication in “table 4.22ts” and “table 4.17ts” (respectively) of<strong> “</strong>children-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2022-23-tables<strong>”</strong> at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023" target="_blank">Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a><strong>. </strong>The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.</p><p> </p><p>The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 25/03/2024 12:11:01 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4772 label Biography information for Kenny MacAskill

1690910

	registered interest
	date	21/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle child poverty in large towns and cities.
	tabling member constituency	Slough
	tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
	uin	15153
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2024 answer text <p>The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.</p><p> </p><p>Working age benefits will increase by 6.7% from April 2024, subject to Parliamentary approval. To further support low-income households, we are also raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in April 2024, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.</p><p> </p><p>With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.</p><p> </p><p>Our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options to help people into work, including face-to-face time with Work Coaches and targeted employment support. We will also increase the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 for workers aged 21 years and over from this April - an annual increase in gross earnings of over £1800 for someone working full-time on the National Living Wage.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 28/02/2024 11:00:25 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1681320

	registered interest
	date	10/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UNICEF report Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth, published on 6 December 2023, and its finding that the UK has seen the greatest increase in child poverty out of the 40 countries featured in the report; and what steps they are taking to prevent a further increase.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
	uin	HL1412
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2024 answer text <p>The most recent available data, covering 2021/22, shows that relative poverty rates for children remain unchanged since 2009/10. On an absolute basis, which better represents changes to actual living standards, the rate after housing costs has fallen by 5 percentage points across the same period. There were 400,000 fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs in 2021/22 compared to 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. From April, and subject to Parliamentary approval, working age benefits will rise by a further 6.7% in line with inflation and the increase in the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30<sup>th</sup> percentile of local market rates will give further help to 1.6 million low-income households.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has always believed that work is the best way to help families improve their financial circumstances. This approach is based on clear evidence about the important role that work - particularly full-time – can play in reducing the risks of poverty. In the financial year 2021 to 2022, children living in households where all adults work were around 5 times less likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those living in workless households.</p><p> </p><p>This is why, with over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on providing parents with the support they need to move into and progress in work. Parents on Universal Credit who are moving into work or increasing their hours can now get additional support with upfront childcare costs, and we have also increased the childcare costs that they can claim back by nearly 50%, up to £951 a month for one child and £1,630 for two or more children.</p><p>To support those who are in work, on 1 April 2024, the Government will increase the National Living Wage (NLW) for people aged 21 and over by 9.8% to £11.44 an hour, an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earning of a full-time worker on the NLW.</p><p>The Government is providing support worth £104 billion over 2022-23 to 2024-25 to help households with the high cost of living, this clearly shows that we will always act to ensure that the most vulnerable get the support they need, and we will continue to keep all our existing programmes under review in the usual way.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie grouped question UIN HL1410 question first answered 22/01/2024 15:57:55 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham

1681318

	registered interest
	date	10/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps are they taking to prevent children falling into poverty during future economic crises, in response to the conclusions of the UNICEF report Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth, published on 6 December 2023.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
	uin	HL1410
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2024 answer text <p>The most recent available data, covering 2021/22, shows that relative poverty rates for children remain unchanged since 2009/10. On an absolute basis, which better represents changes to actual living standards, the rate after housing costs has fallen by 5 percentage points across the same period. There were 400,000 fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs in 2021/22 compared to 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. From April, and subject to Parliamentary approval, working age benefits will rise by a further 6.7% in line with inflation and the increase in the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30<sup>th</sup> percentile of local market rates will give further help to 1.6 million low-income households.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has always believed that work is the best way to help families improve their financial circumstances. This approach is based on clear evidence about the important role that work - particularly full-time – can play in reducing the risks of poverty. In the financial year 2021 to 2022, children living in households where all adults work were around 5 times less likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those living in workless households.</p><p> </p><p>This is why, with over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on providing parents with the support they need to move into and progress in work. Parents on Universal Credit who are moving into work or increasing their hours can now get additional support with upfront childcare costs, and we have also increased the childcare costs that they can claim back by nearly 50%, up to £951 a month for one child and £1,630 for two or more children.</p><p>To support those who are in work, on 1 April 2024, the Government will increase the National Living Wage (NLW) for people aged 21 and over by 9.8% to £11.44 an hour, an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earning of a full-time worker on the NLW.</p><p>The Government is providing support worth £104 billion over 2022-23 to 2024-25 to help households with the high cost of living, this clearly shows that we will always act to ensure that the most vulnerable get the support they need, and we will continue to keep all our existing programmes under review in the usual way.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie grouped question UIN HL1412 question first answered 22/01/2024 15:57:55 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham

1678281

	registered interest
	date	14/12/2023
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UNICEF report Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth, published on 6 December, and its conclusion that of the 39 OECD and EU countries featured in the report, the UK has seen the largest increase in child poverty since 2014.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
	uin	HL1205
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2023 answer text <p>The most recent available data, covering 2021/22 shows that relative poverty rates for children remain unchanged since 2009/10. On an absolute basis, which better represents changes to actual living standards, the rate after housing costs has fallen by 5 percentage points across the same period. There were 400,000 fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs in 2021/22 compared to 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>The most recent available OECD data shows that the United Kingdom has a relative poverty rate for 0–17-year-olds comparable to large European countries such as France and Germany and below Australia, the United States and Italy.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.</p><p> </p><p>Our approach to tackling poverty is based on clear evidence that parental employment, particularly where its full time, reduces the risk of poverty. In the financial year 2021 to 2022, children living in households where all adults work were around 5 times less likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those living in workless households.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 20/12/2023 16:55:03 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham