Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned uprating to benefits in April 2022 on levels of absolute poverty in Newport West constituency.

No such assessment has been made. National Statistics on the number of individuals in absolute low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. Data for Newport West constituency is unavailable due to insufficient sample size.

The Secretary of State undertakes an annual review of benefits and pensions based on inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), for the year to September. All benefit up-rating since April 1987 has been based on the increase in the relevant price inflation index in the 12 months to the previous September, as happens now.