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20 Jun 2005 : Column 712W—continued
Child Poverty
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children were classified as living in poverty in each year from 1979–80 to 2005–06; what targets have been set for each year to 2020; and if he will make a statement. [807]
Margaret Hodge: In the mid to late 1990s, the UK suffered higher child poverty than nearly all other industrialised nations. Over the previous 20 years, the proportion of children in relative low-income households had more than doubled. As our first step towards eradicating this problem, we set an aim to reduce the number of children living in relative low-income households by a quarter by 2004–05. The data for this period will be released in 2006.
The PSA target set in the 2004 Spending Review is to halve the number of children in relative low-income households between 1998–99 and 2010–11, on the way to eradicating child poverty in 2020. As part of this, the Government will set an additional target in the 2006 Spending Review to halve by 2010 the numbers of children suffering a combination of material deprivation and relative low income.
The following table sets out both the percentage and the number of children living in households with an income of below 60 per cent. of the contemporary median, since 1997, which is most commonly used in reporting trends.
Notes:
1.Family Expenditure Survey (FES) figures are for the United Kingdom, Family Resources Survey (FRS) figures are for Great Britain.
2.The reference period for FRS figures is single financial years.
3.FES figures are single calendar years from 1979–87, two combined calendar years from 1998–89—1992–93 and two financial years combined from 1993–94—1995–96.
4.Figures are based on the new grossing regime to give more accurate results, particularly at a regional level, and to scale to updated population estimates.
5.All publications listed are available in the Library.
Source:
Family Resources Survey (GB)
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Disability Allowance
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many young people have been registered for disability allowance in East Devon in each of the last five years. [5094]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is in the table.
As at February: | Number in receipt of disability living allowance |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 2,100 |
| 2002 | 2,200 |
| 2003 | 2,400 |
| 2004 | 2,600 |
| 2005 | 2,800 |
Notes:
1.Figures taken from a 5 per cent. sample as at the end of February for each year.
2.Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
3.From November 2002, the methodology for producing these figures was changed to allow statistics to be published much sooner. This has resulted in a small increase in the reported caseload. This is because some cases which have actually terminated but have not yet been updated on the computer system are now included.
4.Only cases in payment have been included.
Source:
Information Centre
Health and Safety Executive
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received about the Complaints Panel that investigates complaints about the Health and Safety Executive; how many investigations the panel has looked at in the last two years; and if he will make a statement. [2099]
Mrs. McGuire: We have received no representations about the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Complaints Panel.
HSE's Open Government Complaints Panel has investigated two appeals within the last two years. Further representations have been made to HSE about the panel's decision in one of these cases.
20 Jun 2005 : Column 714W
Housing Benefit
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many private tenants are in receipt of housing benefit; and what estimate he has made of the cost of housing benefit for private tenants in 2005–06, broken down by local authority. [3568]
Mr. Plaskitt: Information about the number of private tenants in receipt of housing benefit, broken down by local authority, has been placed in the Library.
No estimate is available for the cost of housing benefit broken down by local authority for 2005–06.
In-work Credit
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the pilot of in-work credit to lone parents seeking work in Leeds; and if he will make a statement. [1729]
Margaret Hodge: We are currently testing the effectiveness of the £40 per week In-Work Credit in a range of areas across the country and, from October 2005, in a further six areas across the south-east.
The aim of the pilot is to gather evidence about the proportion of lone parents taking up the Credit and the Work Search Premium, and the impact in terms of supporting more lone parents to move off benefit and into work. There is strong evidence, from the evaluation of New Deal for Lone Parents, that nearly all lone parents would be more positive about considering work if the gains were over £40 per week.
The Leeds pilot began in October 2004 and preliminary analysis of administrative data shows that in the four months to January 2005, 280 payments to lone parents had been recorded.
It is too early in the life of the pilot to make an assessment. DWP has commissioned a wide ranging programme of evaluation, using independent experts to carefully assess the pilots overall. The evaluation programme includes both an impact assessment and qualitative research. The findings from the qualitative research are due to be published in autumn 2007. The first impact assessment report that will assess the pilots that started in October 2004 is due to be published in spring 2007.
Pathways to Work
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what has been the cost of the return to work credit within the Pathways to Work pilots in each month since its introduction; and what proportion of people who have found work through Pathways to Work have received the credit. [2079]
Margaret Hodge: To the end of January 2005, 62.3 per cent. of those who found work through the Pathways to Work pilots received the Return To Work Credit.
Information on the actual cost each month is not available. Information on the estimated cost committed in each month is in the following table.
20 Jun 2005 : Column 715W
Source:
DWP Pathways evaluation data
Poverty
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the UK were living in absolute poverty during the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by (a) pensioners, (b) unemployed, (c) disabled and (d) others; and if he will make a statement. [918]
Margaret Hodge: Poverty is about more than low income, it is also about health, housing and the quality of environment.
Specific information regarding low income for the United Kingdom is available in 'Households Below Average Income 1994–95—2003–04'. The threshold of below 60 per cent. contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting trends in low income.
The information is in the following table.
Notes:
1.Rows presented in the table are not mutually exclusive, for example an individual could be a pensioner and disabled.
2.'Unemployed' describes a workless family where either the head, or spouse, is looking for work.
3.Disability is defined in line with the Disability Discrimination Act.
4.Figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000.
5.Figures in the first two columns are for Great Britain and figures in the third column are for the United Kingdom.
6.1996–97 figures are provided for comparison on a GB level along with consistent estimates for 2003–04. UK data for 1996–97 are not available as the Family Resources Survey was only extended to cover Northern Ireland in April 2002.
Source:
Family Resources Survey (FRS), 2003–04
20 Jun 2005 : Column 716W
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of children in the UK were living in poverty in (a) 1997 and (b) 2004; what research he has collated on rates in other developed countries; and if he will make a statement. [958]
Margaret Hodge: Specific information regarding low income for the United Kingdom is available in the latest publication of the 'Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2003–04'. The threshold of below 60 per cent. contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting trends in low income.
The information is in the table.
Notes:
1.Figures are presented for Great Britain and the United Kingdom as figures for the UK are only available from 2002–03 onwards.
2.International comparisons are important because the Government aspire to be among the very best performers in Europe on child poverty—competing with the record of countries such as Sweden and Denmark. A focus on income before housing costs, as adopted in our spending review 2004 target, supports this as these are used across other European Union countries.
3.Measuring child poverty", published in December 2003, compares findings with our European Union counterparts. It showed that the UK had the highest child poverty rate in Europe in 1999 (29 per cent.), but according to latest data for 2003, we are now closer to the EU average of (23 per cent.). European comparisons are made using data from the European Household Panel Study, and are not comparable with figures using the Family Resources Survey.
4.By 2020, we want to be comparable to the very best countries in the world. Where the UK had a child poverty rate on the UNICEF measure of 15.4 per cent. in 2004, Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) had rates of less than 5 per cent.
5.All publications listed are available in the Library.
Source:
Family Resources Survey
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of children living in poverty in the UK are living in a single parent household; and if he will make a statement. [959]
Margaret Hodge:
Specific information regarding low income for the United Kingdom is available in 'Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2003–04', which is available in the Library.
20 Jun 2005 : Column 717W
The threshold most commonly used in reporting trends in low income is 60 per cent. of contemporary median income. According to the latest data, in 2003–04, of those children living in households below this threshold, 38 per cent. were in a lone parent family when using a before housing costs measure and 42 per cent. when using an after housing costs measure.
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