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Written question asked by Bishop of Portsmouth (Bishops (affiliation)) on Tuesday, 28 March 2017, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 11 April 2017. It was answered by Lord Henley (Conservative) on Thursday, 6 April 2017 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Poverty: Children

Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the impact of the recent increase in inflation on the number of children in poverty; and what plans they have for protecting low income families against the rising cost of basic essentials.

Answer

Impacts of the latest increase in inflation on families with children have not been estimated.

However the Department’s latest Households Below Average Income statistics to 2016 published on 16th March 2017 does show how the number of children in low income households has changed with reference to inflation (the measure is called absolute low income). Since 2010, there has been a decrease of 200,000 children before housing costs (BHC) in absolute low income. After housing costs (AHC) had been taken into account, there were 100,000 fewer children in absolute low income since 2010.

In terms of proportions, there have also been reductions in the rates of absolute low income on both bases - BHC down by 2 percentage points, and AHC down by 1 percentage point since 2010.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL6396
Session
2016-17
Subjects
Children Inflation Poverty
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk