Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce economic inequality in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

Work is the best route out of poverty and that is why the government is investing more than £6 billion in DWP labour market support over the next three years to help people move into, and progress in, work. This builds on the success of the Plan for Jobs, with over 2 million fewer people expected to be unemployed than previously thought. As a result of the Government’s actions, the unemployment rate (3.9%) is now below the pre-pandemic rate (4.0% in the 3 months to February 2020).

In addition, youth unemployment is now 3.9 percentage points below the peak of the pandemic and 0.8 percentage points below the pre-pandemic rate.

Distributional analysis published at Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 shows that in 2024-25, tax, welfare and spending decisions made since Spending Round 2019 will have benefitted the poorest households most, as a percentage of income.