Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s oral contribution at Prime Minister's Questions on 10 January 2024, Official Report, column 297, on what evidential basis he said that the number of people living in poverty has reduced by 1.7 million since 2010.

The latest available National statistics on Households Below Average Income covering 2021/22 are here.

These statistics show that there were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute low income after housing costs in 2021/22 compared to 2009/10, a 4 percentage-point decrease. This includes 400,000 children, 1 million working age individuals and 200,000 pensioners.