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1659265

registered interest
date	07/09/2023
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
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 Poverty Strategy Commission’s interim report A New Framework for Tackling Poverty, published on 5 September, and in particular the recommendations that a net rise in benefit awards by 5 per cent would reduce numbers in poverty by 725,000 and a net rise in earnings wound reduce poverty by 515,000.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Southwark
uin	HL10000
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions has not undertaken any specific assessment but notes that the analysis included in the report is based on the Social Metric Commission’s (SMC) measure of poverty.</p><p> </p><p>The Government accepts that the SMC’s approach offers a more expansive view of inescapable costs, and alternative income sources will add new insight to the understanding of poverty. In March 2023, the Department for Work and Pensions announced plans to resume work developing an experimental measure of poverty based on the SMC’s innovative work. The Government already publishes national statistics on low income using a range of measures.</p><p>The Government’s focus is firmly on supporting people into and to progress in work. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.  The latest statistics show that working age adults living in workless households were over 7 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in households where all adults work. To help people into work our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. We are also addressing progression barriers through our comprehensive package of childcare support, our in work progression offer, and changes to the administrative earnings threshold which ensure that more claimants can benefit from work coach support.</p><p>The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills. From April 2023, everyone who receives a state benefit or pension will have seen their benefit rates increase by 10.1%.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 14/09/2023 12:43:54 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4345 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Southwark

1625847

registered interest
date	03/05/2023
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
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 prediction by the Resolution Foundation in their report The Living Standards Outlook 2023, published in January, that between 2021–22 and 2023–24, an additional 800,000 people will be in absolute poverty.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL7659
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2023 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>National Statistics on the number and percentage of people in poverty are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. The latest statistics published in March 2023 are for the financial period 2021/22.</p><p> </p><p>This Government has overseen significant falls in absolute poverty since 2009/10. There were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute low income (60% of median income) after housing costs in 2021/22 compared to 2009/10, a 4 percentage-point decrease. This includes 400,000 children, 1 million working age individuals and 200,000 pensioners.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes. In 2023/24 we will spend around £276 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain including £114 billion on people of working age and children.</p><p> </p><p>The Government understands the pressures people are facing, which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living.</p><p> </p><p>For the 2023/24 financial year this includes additional Cost of Living Payments for more than 8 million households on means-tested benefits, 6 million people on disability benefits, and 8 million pensioner households across the UK. The government is maintaining the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 until the end of June. This will ensure that households across the UK are supported through the spring while retail energy costs are expected to remain high.</p><p> </p><p>For people who require additional support, whether they receive benefits or not, the Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The Devolved Administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 17/05/2023 10:45:55 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1417806

registered interest
date	28/01/2022
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 Joseph Rowntree Foundation report UK Poverty 2022: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK, published on 18 January; and what steps they plan to take, if any, in response to the case for "co-ordinated commitment, effort and action on the intersecting issues and challenges" identified in the report in order to address "deep and persistent poverty" in the UK.
tabling member printed	The Marquess of Lothian
uin	HL5769
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2022 answer text <p>The poverty statistics included in the Joseph Rowntree Trust’s report cover the period to 2019/20 and therefore do not help us to understand how low-income households have fared over the last two financial years. The data shows that in 2019/20, household incomes saw their strongest annual growth for nearly 20 years, and that 700,000 fewer people, including 100,000 fewer children, were in absolute poverty before housing costs compared with 2010.</p><p>The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 11/02/2022 14:12:00 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	259 label Biography information for The Marquess of Lothian

1358802

registered interest
date	11/10/2021
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
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 relative importance of (1) improving health and education, and (2) increasing GDP per capita, in reducing poverty in the UK.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL2942
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2021 answer text <p>Increasing GDP per capita leads to higher individual income on average, though its impact on poverty will depend on how that increase is distributed. If there is a real terms increase in household incomes for those at the bottom of the income distribution, this reduces the number of people in absolute poverty. Higher household incomes for those at the bottom would also reduce the number of people in relative poverty, if the household incomes for those at the bottom of the income distribution were to increase relative to the median household income.</p><p>For example, from 2010 to 2019, GDP per capita grew by 10.4%. Over a similar period, from 2009-10 to 2019-20, the number of people in absolute poverty before housing costs fell by 700,000, and the number of people in relative poverty before housing costs increased by 1.4 million.</p><p>As our economic recovery gathers pace, we are continuing to help people to move into and to progress in work through our expanded Plan for Jobs. Our approach is based on clear evidence that work, particularly full time, is the most effective way of tackling poverty. In 2019/20, working age adults in households where all adults were in work were 6 times less likely to be in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than adults in a household where nobody works.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 26/10/2021 11:40:12 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1342068

registered interest
date	29/06/2021
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 case for creating a Food Security Minister responsible for interventions to people living in poverty.
tabling member printed	Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
uin	HL1560
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2021 answer text <p>I am the Minister responsible for security of the food chain, working with industry to make sure food is available to buy. Defra officials continue to work with other relevant Departments on food policy and food insecurity, including on school meals (DfE), local authority provision (MHCLG) and the welfare system (Department for Work and Pensions) (DWP).</p><p> </p><p>Since the start of the pandemic, government departments have come together to coordinate support for the most vulnerable. Defra, DfE, DWP and DHSC worked together on the COVID Winter Support Package in November 2020 - ensuring that support was provided to those impacted by the pandemic throughout the winter period. Departments are continuing to work together to deliver a number of key cross-cutting outcomes linked to the 2020 Spending Review.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of COVID-related welfare policy measures.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon question first answered 13/07/2021 16:38:16 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
tabling member	4130 label Biography information for Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

1247996

registered interest
date	02/11/2020
answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
answering dept id	208
answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is retaining the Department for International Development's commitment to maintaining poverty reduction as the primary objective of UK spending.
tabling member printed	Baroness Hodgson of Abinger
uin	HL9841
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2020 answer text <p>The Government will prioritise the bottom billion, the very poorest around the world, as part of our core mission. This is in our national interest and it will project the UK as a force for good in the world. For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, the UK has provided £15 million to UNICEF to protect vulnerable children, and a further £5 million to the Education Cannot Wait fund, supporting emergency education in conflict countries. Furthermore, the UK has allocated £119 million of aid to provide relief to over 6 million people and help prevent famine in countries hit by conflict and COVID-19.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sugg question first answered 12/11/2020 14:36:30 answering member 4584 label Biography information for Baroness Sugg
tabling member	4301 label Biography information for Baroness Hodgson of Abinger

1247997

registered interest
date	02/11/2020
answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
answering dept id	208
answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
hansard heading	Poverty
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will continue to target UK aid to the poorest countries and people.
tabling member printed	Baroness Hodgson of Abinger
uin	HL9842
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2020 answer text <p>Reducing poverty will be at the beating heart of the FCDO. The Foreign Secretary has appointed Nick Dyer as the first ever envoy on famine prevention and humanitarian affairs, and we have allocated a new £119 million package to look at the threat of the coronavirus and of famine more generally across the bottom billion.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sugg question first answered 12/11/2020 14:36:47 answering member 4584 label Biography information for Baroness Sugg
tabling member	4301 label Biography information for Baroness Hodgson of Abinger

1227117

registered interest
date	21/07/2020
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
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 impact of the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development on the world's poorest people.
tabling member printed	Baroness Goudie
uin	HL7088
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/08/2020 answer text <p>Spending 0.7 per cent of our national income on aid is enshrined in law and we will continue to be guided by our responsibilities under the International Development Act, including a commitment to poverty reduction.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sugg question first answered 03/08/2020 12:28:07 answering member 4584 label Biography information for Baroness Sugg
tabling member	3575 label Biography information for Baroness Goudie

1144092

registered interest
date	03/09/2019
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, following the report by the Social Metrics Commission Measuring Poverty 2019, published in July, and the appointment of the new Prime Minister on 24 July, what plans they have to revise their strategy for tackling poverty.
tabling member printed	Lord Bird
uin	HL17580
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del><ins class="ministerial">The Government is committed to delivering a sustainable, long-term solution to poverty through reforming the welfare system so that it works with the tax system and the Labour market to support employment and higher pay. Promoting full-time work through work incentives are a key feature of this approach, reinforced by the National Living Wage and the rising Personal Tax Allowance, which work together to promote independence from benefits.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Universal Credit, which is now reaching over 2 million households, has already shown that it is more effective in getting people into work than the legacy benefits it replaces. Nine months into a UC claim, 40% of claimants are working for an employer in a paid role, compared with only 23% at the start of their claim. </ins><br /> <br /><ins class="ministerial"> The number of people in employment has increased by over 3.7 million since 2010. Three-quarters of the growth in employment has been in full-time work which substantially reduces the chances of being in poverty.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Government is working with the Social Metrics Commission, and other experts in the field, to develop new experimental statistics which will help us to find new and better ways to analyse poverty in this country. These will be published in 2020 and, in the long-run, could help us target support more effectively.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 09/09/2019 15:23:29 question first ministerially corrected 30/09/2019 14:54:43 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott previous answer version 134826 answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4564 label Biography information for Lord Bird

1144170

registered interest
date	03/09/2019
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 why the objectives listed in the departmental plan for the Department for Work and Pensions makes no reference to (1) reducing poverty, and (2) the Sustainable Development Goal on poverty.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL17658
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">As clearly set out in the Government’s published response to the Voluntary National Review of the Sustainable Development Goal 1, we are committed to delivering a sustainable, long-term solution to reducing poverty through welfare reforms that ensure that the benefits system works with the tax system and the labour market to support employment and higher pay. There is clear evidence that full-time work dramatically reduces the risk of poverty for working families; for example, there is only a 7% chance of a child being in poverty (relative, after housing costs) if both parents work full-time compared with 66% for children in (two-parent) families with only part-time work. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial">Although not directly referenced, our approach to reducing poverty is already reflected in our Single Departmental Plan which sets out how we plan to achieve our key strategic objectives including delivering an effective labour market strategy that boosts employment among under-represented and disadvantaged groups and facilitating progression; and consolidating the delivery of Universal Credit so that it works for everyone.</ins></ins></ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial"><ins class="ministerial">Universal Credit, at the heart of our reforms, has already shown that it is more effective in getting people into work than the legacy benefits it replaces. Nine months into a UC claim, 40% of claimants are working for an employer in a paid role, compared with only 23% at the start of their claim. This is a key approach to provide a sustainable solution to reducing poverty.</ins></ins></ins></ins></ins></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 09/09/2019 15:42:45 question first ministerially corrected 03/10/2019 13:26:53 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott previous answer version 134986 answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett