Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the prevalence of child poverty in the Greater Manchester area.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The Government is committed to eliminating child poverty and improving life chances for all children, including those in Greater Manchester.
We know that work is the best route out of poverty and we are already making progress, with the number of children in workless households across Greater Manchester down by 13,000 since 2010. Our investment in childcare, the National Living Wage and increases to the Personal Allowance will help people increase their hours, increase their earnings, and enable them to keep more of what they earn.
The Secretary of State will say more about the Government’s plan to tackle disadvantage and extend opportunity in a new Life Chances Strategy. This will be published in the Spring.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children were in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Estimates of the number and proportion of children in relative and absolute low-income are published in the National Statistics Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series.
Analysis by region and country is presented as three-year averages as single-year estimates are considered too volatile. Figures are presented in financial year estimates and are available up to 2013/14.
The latest publication is available at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-19941995-to-20132014
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive about legislation to replace the Child Poverty Act 2010.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Legislation to amend the Child Poverty Act was introduced into Parliament on 9 July as part of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill. On [9 July] the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and for Education wrote to the Northern Ireland Executive setting out the proposed legislation and inviting Northern Ireland Ministers to work with them on the provisions as they apply to Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions officials from his Department had with the Northern Ireland devolved administration ahead of the informal Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council on 29-30 April 2014.
Answered by Esther McVey
The devolved administrations are always consulted on any European dossier deposited with the Cabinet Office that is subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. While social security is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, International Relations are an excepted matter under the Northern Ireland Act 1998.