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Child Poverty

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the number of children living in relative poverty in the UK who are in households with (a) one or more adults in full-time work, (b) one adult only, not in work, (c) one adult only, in part-time work, (d) one adult only, (e) one adult on incapacity benefit, (f) one adult on income support and (g) one adult on jobseeker's allowance. [41393]

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not available. The seventh annual 'Opportunity for all' report (Cm 6673) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and reports progress against a range of indicators.

Detailed information about the number and proportion of children living in low income households is published in Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2003–04", available in the Library. The report includes comparisons of incomes against low income thresholds, such as the commonly used relative low income threshold threshold of 60 per cent. of contemporary median income.
 
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Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children were living in households with incomes of less than 27 per cent. of median income in each year since 1990–91; and if he will make a statement. [41395]

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not available.

Detailed information about the number and proportion of children living in low income households is published in Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2003–04", available in the Library. HBAI defines low income households' using thresholds of 50, 60 and 70 per cent. of median income.

The seventh annual 'Opportunity for all' report (Cm 6673) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and reports progress against a range of income thresholds.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work andPensions what assessment he has made of the factors affecting child poverty; and if he will make a statement. [41396]

Margaret Hodge: We recognise that poverty and social exclusion are not just about low income, or the goods and services that people can afford. We understand that people's opportunities and quality of life are also shaped by their education, their skills, by access to quality health services, by decent housing and by the security and quality of the areas in which they live.

The seventh annual 'Opportunity for all' report (Cm 6673), published in October 2005, sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion. It contains an annex of indicators tracking the Government's performance on tackling poverty and social exclusion across a range of domains—amounting to around 60 indicators in total, 25 of which are child specific. We will continue to take this approach in the future.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the possible relationship between child poverty and families with higher numbers of children; and if he will make a statement. [41401]

Margaret Hodge: The Government announced in the Child Poverty Review in 2004 that it had a long-term aspiration to improve the financial support available to large families and will consider the best mechanism for achieving this.

Specific information regarding low income for Great Britain is available in Households Below Average Income (HBAI) 1994/95—2003/04", available in the Library. The threshold of below 60 per cent. contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting trends in low income. The data shows that children in large families—those with three or more children—were more likely to live in low income households, although the risk of relative low income for this group has decreased markedly since 1998–99.
 
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Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to develop (a) a measure of and (b) a target for severe relative poverty of children; and if he will make a statement. [41402]

Margaret Hodge: The seventh annual 'Opportunity for all' report (Cm 6673) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and reports progress against a range of indicators. Our current approach is to present a range of low income thresholds (50, 60 and 70 per cent.). This gives an idea of the depth of poverty and it is simple to interpret. Indeed, the incorporation of two different relative low income thresholds into our new child poverty measure (60 and 70 per cent. of median), together with the absolute tier, further ensures that different depths of poverty will be looked at separately.

Households reporting the lowest incomes may not have the lowest living standards. The bottom 10 per cent. of the income distribution should not, therefore, be interpreted as having the bottom 10 per cent. of living standards. This is a particular issue for lower thresholds, such as 50 per cent. of median. Other higher thresholds are less affected by this.

We have no plans to modify our current approach.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the incidence of child poverty was in families with (a) children under the age of 10 years and (b) children over the age of 10 years in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [41404]

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not available.

The seventh annual 'Opportunity for all' report (Cm 6673) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and reports progress against a range of indicators.

Detailed information about the number and proportion of children living in low income households is published in Households Below Average Income 1994/95–2003/04", available in the Library. The report includes comparisons of incomes against low income thresholds, such as the commonly used threshold of 60 per cent. of contemporary median income.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work andPensions what recent assessment he has made of theage distribution of children living in relative low income households in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [41434]

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is in the tables.

Detailed information about the number and proportion of children living in low income households is published in Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2003–04", available in the Library. The report includes comparisons of incomes against low income thresholds, such as the commonly used threshold of 60 per cent. of contemporary median income.

There is a stronger relationship between age of youngest child and low income than age of children alone. Results show that for families where the youngest child is older, the children are less likely to experience
 
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low income—particularly 'after housing costs'. This is linked with higher risks by size of family, since an older youngest child will correlate with a smaller family size.
Proportion of children living in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of median, 2003–04

Percentage
Age of child	Before housing costs	After housing costs
Under 5	18	28
5 to 10	21	29
11 to 15	23	28
16 to 18	19	23
All children	21	28

Composition of children in only those households below 60 per cent. of median by age of child, 2003–04

Percentage
Age of child	Before housing costs	After housing costs
Under 5	23	26
5 to 10	34	35
11 to 15	34	31
16 to 18	9	8
All children	100	100

Proportion of children living in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of median by age of youngest child, 2003–04

Percentage
Age of youngest child	Before housing costs	After housing costs
Under 5	20	30
5 to 10	22	29
11 to 15	21	24
16 to 18	12	16
All children	21	28

Composition of children in only those households below 60 per cent. of median by age of youngest child, 2003–04

Percentage
Age of youngest child	Before housing costs	After housing costs
Under 5	40	44
5 to 10	37	36
11 to 15	20	18
16 to 18	3	3
All children	100	100

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