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947537

registered interest
date	24/07/2018
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 Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, or intend to make, of the report of the Resolution Foundation, Living Standards Audit 2018, published on 24 July, and its conclusion that the proportion of children in poverty has risen by 21 per cent in the five years to 2016, rather than their estimate of 11 per cent.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL9830
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Benefit under-reporting in household surveys is a well-known, long standing issue. To date it has not been possible to accurately resolve this. The Resolution Foundation’s report published on 24 July attempts to correct this issue. However, they do not have accurate information on which households are under-reporting. Consequently, they use a series of assumptions to select a number of households in the survey, allocating them additional income from benefits. This means the conclusions in the report will be sensitive to the households selected; different assumptions will give different results.</p><p> </p><p>DWP is currently working towards a more accurate solution to correct this issue, whereby survey records are combined with administrative data to improve the quality of the survey data. Making this correction is likely to reduce the number of individuals classed as being in low income.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 13:51:06 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

918911

registered interest
date	06/06/2018
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	Social Security Benefits
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, or intend to make, of the effects of delayed benefit payments on the creditworthiness of benefit recipients who fall into arrears as a result of such delays.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL8408
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2018 answer text <p>An assessment has not been made.</p><p> </p><p>The latest Universal Credit data shows that around 80 per cent of new claims are paid in full and on time. In many cases, where full payment is not made on time by the end of the first assessment period, this is as a result of unresolved issues: claimants have not signed their Claimant Commitment or passed identity checks, and the others have outstanding verification issues, such as for housing and self-employed earnings. Whilst their verification is ongoing, many of these claimants receive a part payment for those elements of the claim that have been resolved.</p><p> </p><p>Advances are available to provide financial support until the first payment and these can now be repaid over a course of 12 months and can consist of up to 100 per cent of the indicative monthly award. We have also abolished waiting days and now provide 2 weeks of housing support to claimants moving to Universal Credit from Housing Benefit.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 18/06/2018 12:10:04 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

916549

registered interest
date	04/06/2018
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to adopt an all-of-government approach to preventing the root causes of poverty.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL8255
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2018 answer text <p>This Government believes that works provides people with the best opportunity for getting out of poverty and into self-reliance. This is why it is committed to collective action that tackles the root causes of poverty and disadvantage through a range of policies that encourage people to move into and progress in work including Universal Credit, the National Living Wage, tax changes, and up to 30 hours of free childcare a week. There are around 880,000 fewer adults and almost 600,000 fewer children in workless households compared with 2010.</p><p> </p><p>‘Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families’, published on 4 April, set out a framework for improving outcomes for children in workless households including nine cross-departmental indicators to track progress across a number of departments in tackling the disadvantages that can affect families and their children. The Department for Work and Pensions continues to work with a range of external stakeholders and with other Departments to take forward the policies set out in the paper and is also committed to pushing annual updates against all nine indicators.</p><p><br>The Department is also represented at a ministerial level at a number of groups and forums which focus on supporting those who are most disadvantaged, whether or not they have children, including Inter Ministerial Groups on Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce, Serious Violence Strategy, Violence against Women and Girls, Race Disparity, Safe and Integrated Communities, the Reducing Reoffending Board and the Drugs Strategy Board. It also co-chairs the Financial Inclusion Policy Forum with the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 13/06/2018 11:31:33 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

845380

registered interest
date	20/02/2018
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 12 December 2017 (HL3812), which (1) ministers, (2) departments, (3) agencies, and (4) arm’s length government bodies, including non-ministerial departments, executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies and public corporations, have responsibility for poverty, and issues relating to poverty.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL5580
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/03/2018 answer text <p>This Government is committed to collective action that tackles the root causes of poverty and disadvantage through a range of policies, such as Universal Credit, the National Living Wage, tax changes, and up to 30 hours of free childcare a week to incentivise employment as the best opportunity for families to get out of poverty and become self-reliant.</p><p> </p><p>In <em>Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families</em>, we set out a framework for a continued focus on improving children’s long-term outcomes. This includes nine national indicators to track progress across a number of departments in tackling the disadvantages that can affect families and their children. The Government has a statutory duty to report annually against two of these indicators - parental employment, and children’s educational attainment. The relevant departments and agencies - Department for Education, Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, HM Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions – all aim to publish data on the other, non-statutory indicators by the end of March.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 06/03/2018 13:30:24 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

845381

registered interest
date	20/02/2018
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of their preventative approach with regard to addressing the root causes of poverty in the long term.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL5581
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/03/2018 answer text <p>This Government is committed to action that tackles the root causes of poverty and disadvantage. We are undertaking the most ambitious reform to the welfare system in decades to ensure that it supports people to find and progress in work. This is because we have clear evidence that work offers families the best opportunity to get out of poverty and to become self-reliant. Adults in workless families are 4 times more likely to be in poverty than those in working families. We also know that children living in workless households are 5 times more likely to be in poverty than those where all adults work. We are making good progress. Nationally, there are now 954,000 fewer workless households, and 608,000 fewer children living in such households compared with 2010.</p><p> </p><p>In <em>Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families</em>, we set out a framework for a continued focus on improving children’s long-term outcomes. This includes nine national indicators to track progress across government in tackling the disadvantages that can affect families and their children. The Government has a statutory duty to report annually against two of these indicators - parental employment, and children’s educational attainment.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 06/03/2018 16:26:36 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

845382

registered interest
date	20/02/2018
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 Her Majesty's Government how many children were living in poverty in working families in each year since 2010.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL5582
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/03/2018 answer text <p>National statistics on the number of children, in a family with at least one adult in work, in relative low income can be calculated from figures published in the annual &quot;Households Below Average Income&quot; publication.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Number of children living in relative low income before housing costs in a family with at least one adult in work</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009/10</p></td><td><p>1.4m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>1.4m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>1.5m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>1.5m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>1.5m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>1.7m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>1.8m</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The increase is partly driven by more families being in employment. The number of children in a family with at least one adult in work has increased by 800,000 since 2009/10. The chances of a child being in relative low income (before housing costs) when living in a family with at least one adult in work was 15% in 2015/16, which is the same as before the financial crisis (e.g. 2007/08).</p><p> </p><p>This publication also shows that the chances of a child being in relative low income are diminished when work is the norm. The figures show that children in households where all adults work are five times less likely to be in relative low income before housing costs than children in workless households.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 06/03/2018 13:35:05 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

807246

registered interest
date	15/12/2017
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what lessons they have learned from measures to tackle the root causes of poverty taken by the devolved administrations, social enterprises, non-governmental organisations, charities and other organisations.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL4227
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/12/2017 answer text <p>Officials in DWP continue to engage with external organisations and with devolved administrations on a wide range of welfare issues, including constructive discussions about approaches to tackling poverty. The Government is very clear that work is the best route out of poverty and our welfare reforms are designed to incentivise employment and support people to progress in work.</p><p>In April this year we published Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families which sets out a framework to improve outcomes for workless families, now and in the future. Central to this approach is effective joint working between Jobcentre Plus and local partners, including third sector organisations, which specialise in supporting people with multiple and complex needs, to ensure coordination of support and sharing of expertise at a local level. Children in workless families are significantly more disadvantaged, and achieve poorer educational and employment outcomes than other children, including those in lower-income working families. That is why we will continue with policies that support and encourage employment - reforming the welfare system to make work pay. And these policies are working: since 2010, there are 3 million more people in work, with 954,000 fewer workless households, and 608,000 fewer children in workless households across the UK. The UK unemployment rate has not been lower since 1975 and the proportion of workless households is at its lowest since records began.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 22/12/2017 13:09:44 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name improving-lives-helping-workless-families-print-version.pdf title Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

800425

registered interest
date	04/12/2017
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 28 July (HL954), in what ways, and by which means, (1) ministers, and (2) departments, work together to tackle the root causes of poverty, including through (a) committees, (b) units, (c) taskforces, and (d) forums.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL3812
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2017 answer text <p><em>Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families</em>, published on 4 April, set out a framework for improving outcomes for disadvantaged children, now and in the future. The Department for Work and Pensions continues to work with key stakeholders and with other Departments to take forward the four policies set out in the paper. Further announcements will be made in due course.</p><p> </p><p>This paper also set out national statutory and non-statutory indicators to track progress in tackling worklessness and associated disadvantages that can affect families’ and children’s lives. We made available the latest analysis and an evidence base to enable local authorities, local partners and others to understand, and act on, the complex factors of disadvantage in their local area. This includes local-level data on the factors of disadvantage that are available through a local government data tool (LG Inform).</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions works across government and is represented at a ministerial level at a number of groups and forums which focus on supporting those who are most disadvantaged, including the Social Reform Committee, Inter Ministerial Groups on Homelessness, Gangs and Violence against Women and Girls and the Drugs Strategy Group. In the future DWP will co-chair the Financial Inclusion Policy Forum with the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 12/12/2017 12:19:19 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

800427

registered interest
date	04/12/2017
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions, if any, they have had with the devolved administrations since 2010 about possible coordinated actions across the UK to reduce (1) poverty, and (2) child poverty; whether they have learned any lessons from specific initiatives introduced by those administrations that may now be applied in England; and if so, what.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL3814
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2017 answer text <p>This Government is committed to an approach to tackling poverty that goes beyond a focus on the safety net of the welfare system. Work is the best route out of poverty and our welfare reforms are designed to incentivise employment and support people to progress in work. There are now 954,000 fewer workless households and 608,000 fewer children in workless households across the UK compared with 2010. Through <em>Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families</em> we have set out a framework for a continued focus for improving outcomes for workless families, now and in the future.</p><p> </p><p>The Scottish Government has powers in the Scotland Act 2016 to introduce new provision in areas where responsibility is devolved and the Devolved Government in Wales and Scotland are also free to develop their own approaches to tackling child poverty.</p><p> </p><p>Officials in DWP continue to have regular engagement with devolved administrations on a wide range of welfare issues, including constructive discussions about the Improving Lives evidence base and approaches to tackling poverty.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 12/12/2017 15:16:39 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

785836

registered interest
date	07/11/2017
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 Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the Institute for Fiscal Studies report, Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2017–18 to 2021–22, what steps they will take to prevent the projected increase in the level of absolute child poverty.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL2984
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2017 answer text <p>Employment is key to helping people out of poverty and our welfare and tax reforms are designed to support people into employment. Employment is at historically high levels and the number of children living in a household where no one is working is 608,000 lower than it was in 2010. <br></p><p>This Government is committed to action that will make a meaningful difference to the lives of the most disadvantaged children and families. Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families, published on 4 April, set out a framework for a continued focus on improving children’s outcomes, now and in the future. A copy of this report is attached.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 21/11/2017 15:31:59 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe attachment 1 file name HL2984 improving-lives-helping-workless-families.pdf title Improving Lives - Helping Workless Families
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird