Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of children living in relative poverty in the UK (a) on the latest date for which figures are available and (b) a year before that date.

Estimates of the number of children in relative low income in the UK are published in the National Statistics Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series.

In 2014/15 on a Before Housing Cost basis (BHC); there were 2.5 million children in relative poverty in the UK. In the previous year (2013/14) there were 2.3 million children in relative poverty in the UK. This increase however is not statistically significant.

The Prime Minister is clear that tackling poverty and disadvantage, and delivering real social reform, is a priority for this Government and we will be coming back to the House with a number of announcements over the coming months.