Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of whether child poverty rates will (a) increase, (b) remain the same or (c) decrease during the current Parliament.

Since 2010 the number of children in relative low income Before Housing Costs (BHC) has decreased by 100,000, to 2.5 million in 2014/15, and the proportion of children in absolute low income BHC is at its lowest level ever at 17%.

We do not forecast rates of low income. Statistics on the proportion and number of children living in households in low income in 2015/16 will be published in the Households Below Average Income release by the end of March 2017. The government is committed to continue the annual publication of statistics on low income in the Households Below Average Income releases.

The Prime Minister has been clear that tackling child poverty and disadvantage, and delivering real social reform, is a priority for this Government. Our forthcoming Green Paper on Social Justice will identify and address the root causes of poverty, building upon the two statutory measures that we have already set out in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.