Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the accuracy of the findings of the End Child Poverty Group's report, Local indicators of child poverty, 2017-18, published in May 2019 on child poverty levels in (a) Kettering constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Will Quince
This study is based on estimates rather than actual measurements of income. National statistics on the number of people in low income are set out in the annual "Households Below Average Income" publication. The number and proportion of children in low income is not available at local authority or constituency level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.
In the 3-year estimate leading to 2017/18 absolute child poverty is 2 percentage points lower than in the 3-year estimates leading to 2009/10 for the East Midlands. For England as a whole, absolute child poverty is 4 percentage points lower before housing costs, and 3 percentage points lower after housing costs for the 3-year estimates leading to 2017/18 compared with three year estimates leading to 2009/10.
Children growing up in working households are five times less likely to be in poverty, which is why we are supporting families to improve their lives through work. Since 2010 there are over 3.6 million more people in work, and 667,000 fewer children growing up in workless households.