Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Social Metrics Commission’s new measure of poverty, if will she undertake an assessment of the effect of all government policies on poverty in the UK.

We welcome the work that the Social Metrics Commission has done. Measuring poverty is complex, and this report offers further insight into that complexity and the additional measures that can be taken into consideration. From discussions with SMC they acknowledge that further work needs to be done (particularly around data availability and quality). We will carefully consider their recommendations and the detail behind the methodology they have employed when this has been made available.