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1719229

registered interest
date	20/05/2024
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2024 to Question 24903 on Poverty, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of updating the baseline year for absolute poverty.
tabling member constituency	Wirral South
tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
uin	27026
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2024 answer text <p>There are currently no plans to update the baseline year for absolute poverty.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 22/05/2024 15:15:31 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1717561

registered interest
date	13/05/2024
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people in destitution.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	25916
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 13 May 2024 to question number <a title="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-05-07/902774" href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-05-07/902774" target="_blank">902774</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 20/05/2024 15:12:04 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1716006

registered interest
date	07/05/2024
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to update the baseline year for absolute poverty.
tabling member constituency	Wirral South
tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
uin	24903
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2024 answer text <p>There are currently no plans to update the baseline for absolute poverty.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 15/05/2024 10:40:19 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1717395

registered interest
date	07/05/2024
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people in destitution.
tabling member constituency	Manchester, Withington
tabling member printed	Jeff Smith
uin	902774
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2024 answer text <p>The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. We expect to spend around £306bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2024/25 including around £138bn on people of working age and children.</p><p> </p><p>From April, working age benefits increased by 6.7% and, Local Housing Allowance rates were raised to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 13/05/2024 16:29:43 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4456 label Biography information for Jeff Smith

1701842

registered interest
date	17/04/2024
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the main causes of poverty in (a) children, (b) pensioners and (c) adults.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	22329
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2024 answer text <p>Poverty is a complex subject and there are different ways to measure and assess it.</p><p> </p><p>DWP tracks and monitors many different aspects of poverty, including our four statutory measures for children of relative income, absolute income, combined low income and material deprivation and persistent poverty that are published annually.</p><p> </p><p>National statistics on the number of individuals living in absolute and relative poverty are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication 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)www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)</a><strong>. </strong>The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 25/04/2024 13:26:12 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1682164

registered interest
date	15/01/2024
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the UK's commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 1, what progress his Department has made on reducing the number of people living in poverty by more than half by 2030.
tabling member constituency	Canterbury
tabling member printed	Rosie Duffield
uin	9592
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>This Government has overseen significant falls in absolute poverty since 2009/10. There were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute low income after housing costs in 2021/22 compared to 2009/10, a decrease of 4 percentage points. This decrease includes 400,000 fewer children (a decrease of 5 percentage points), 1 million fewer working age individuals (a decrease of 5 percentage points) and 200,000 fewer pensioners (a decrease of 2 percentage points).</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. This is reflected in the £276bn we will spend through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24, including around £124bn on people of working age and children, and reflecting an increase in benefit rates and State Pensions of 10.1% last April. From this April, and subject to Parliamentary approval, working age benefits will rise by a further 6.7%, in line with inflation. 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>With over 900,000 job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting individuals to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the important role that work - particularly where it is full-time – can play in reducing the risks of poverty. The latest statistics show that, in 2021/22, working age adults living in workless families were 7 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in families where all adults work.</p><p> </p><p>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. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues.</p><p> </p><p>To support those who are in work, the voluntary in-work progression offer is now available in all Jobcentres across Great Britain, providing an estimated 1.2 million low paid workers on UC access to personalised work coach support to help them increase their earnings. In addition, on 1 April 2024, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 23/01/2024 14:47:13 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4616 label Biography information for Rosie Duffield

1681787

registered interest
date	12/01/2024
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s oral contribution at Prime Minister's Questions on 10 January 2024, Official Report, column 297, on what evidential basis he said that the number of people living in poverty has reduced by 1.7 million since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
tabling member printed	Stuart C McDonald
uin	9350
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/01/2024 answer text <p>The latest available National statistics on Households Below Average Income covering 2021/22 are <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/households-below-average-income-hbai--2#latest-release" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p> </p><p>These statistics show that there were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute low income after housing costs in 2021/22 compared to 2009/10, a 4 percentage-point decrease.<strong> </strong>This includes 400,000 children, 1 million working age individuals and 200,000 pensioners. <strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 17/01/2024 12:38:24 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4393 label Biography information for Stuart C McDonald

1668090

registered interest
date	07/11/2023
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 Joseph Rowntree Foundation report Destitution in the UK 2023, published on 24 October, which found that "approximately 3.8 million people experienced destitution in 2022, including around one million children".
tabling member printed	Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
uin	HL39
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2023 answer text <p>This government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. We are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising bills.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families and has overseen significant falls in absolute poverty since 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>In 2021/22 there were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10, including 400,000 fewer children, 1 million fewer working age adults and 200,000 fewer pensioners. Rates of absolute poverty after housing costs for individuals in families in receipt of Universal Credit have also fallen by 12ppt since 2019/20.</p><p> </p><p>With almost one million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting people, including parents, to move into and progress in work. This 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 in 2021/22 children living in workless households were 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty, after housing costs, than those where all adults work.</p><p> </p><p>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. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues.</p><p> </p><p>To support those who are in work, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW. In addition, the voluntary in-work progression offer started to roll-out in April 2022. It is now available in all Jobcentres across Great Britain. We estimate that around 1.4m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.</p><p> </p><p>To further support parents into work, on 28th June 2023, the maximum monthly amounts that a parent can be reimbursed for their childcare increased by 47%, from £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children to £950.92 and £1,630.15 respectively. Importantly, we can now also provide even more help with upfront childcare costs when parents move into work or increase their hours. This means that a parent who needs this additional financial help can now be provided with funding towards both their first and second set of costs (or increased costs), upfront, thereby easing them into the UC childcare costs cycle.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 14/11/2023 17:56:52 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	2024 label Biography information for Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

1668166

registered interest
date	07/11/2023
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 steps they are taking to tackle destitution in the UK, particularly destitution experienced by children.
tabling member printed	The Marquess of Lothian
uin	HL52
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2023 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, and around £152 billion on pensioners. Of this, around £79 billion will be spent on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions.</p><p> </p><p>From April, we uprated benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%, and in order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap levels also increased by the same amount.</p><p> </p><p>In 2021/22 there were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10, including 400,000 fewer children, 1 million fewer working age adults and 200,000 fewer pensioners.</p><p> </p><p>With almost one million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting people, including parents, to move into and progress in work. This approach which 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 in 2021/22 children living in workless households were 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty, after housing costs, than those where all adults work.</p><p> </p><p>Through the ambitious package announced at the Spring budget we are delivering measures that are designed to support people to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives.</p><p> </p><p>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. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues.</p><p> </p><p>To support those who are in work, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW. In addition, the voluntary in-work progression offer started to roll-out in April 2022. It is now available in all Jobcentres across Great Britain. We estimate that around 1.4m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.</p><p> </p><p>To further support parents into work, on 28<sup>th</sup> June 2023, the maximum monthly amounts that a parent can<del class="ministerial">HL52</del> be reimbursed for their childcare increased by 47%, from £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children to £950.92 and £1,630.15 respectively<strong>.</strong> Importantly, we can now also provide even more help with upfront childcare costs when parents move into work or increase their hours. This means that a parent who needs this additional financial help can now be provided with funding towards both their first and second set of costs (or increased costs), upfront, thereby easing them into the UC childcare costs cycle.</p><p> </p><p>This government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living 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 bills.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 15/11/2023 14:27:00 question first ministerially corrected 15/11/2023 16:10:23 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie previous answer version 743 answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	259 label Biography information for The Marquess of Lothian

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