Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the forecast in the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and fiscal outlook, published 23 November 2016, of changes in the level of real earnings forecast in March 2016 for 2021.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that average earnings growth will slow in the near-term, before rising to over 3% per cent per year from 2019 onwards, and real earnings rise in every year of the forecast. Furthermore, by 2018, increases to the personal allowance announced since the start of this Parliament will have cut income tax for 31 million people and taken 1.3 million of the lowest paid out of income tax altogether.

Looking at real household disposable income (RHDI) per head - a more comprehensive measure of living standards than real earnings - living standards are now at their highest ever level and are forecast to be 2.8% higher by 2021 than they are today.

The government has reaffirmed it will raise the personal allowance to £12,500 by the end of the Parliament, so that people can keep more of what they earn. But there’s more to do to build an economy that works for everyone. That’s why the Autumn Statement took further steps to increase the supply of affordable housing, ban letting agents’ fees, freeze fuel duty, and to raise productivity which is the best way to raise living standards.