Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of housing poverty.

Poverty statistics are published on both a before housing costs and after housing costs basis. An assessment can therefore be made on the impact of housing costs on poverty over time.

Statistics on the number of individuals living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.