Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to publish a further equalities impact assessment of the Child Poverty Strategy, which will include the potential impact of the strategy on groups at highest risk of poverty.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A full summary Equalities Analysis was published alongside the Strategy and is available at: Child Poverty Strategy: Summary Equalities Analysis - GOV.UK.
The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).
The ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow. The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026, with annual reporting on progress thereafter.
As set out in our Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, we will continue to work closely with the devolved governments to complement existing monitoring and evaluation activity, and consider how best to feed in their own findings to track progress at both the local and national level, particularly where powers are devolved.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 proportion of children in deep material poverty that will be lifted out of that level of poverty by 2030 in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold data on the number of children in deep material poverty broken down by geographical region or constituency. Estimates are available for the number of children and households that are expected to gain from the removal of two-child limit at constituency level here Poverty impacts of social security changes at Budget 2025 - GOV.UK.
As deep material poverty is impacted by a range of un-modellable factors, such as families’ broader resources, support networks and financial resilience, it is not possible to model reductions in deep material poverty in the same way as for relative low income. Instead, we have provided analysis on number of children in deep material poverty who will gain from the strategy, which can be found at the link above.
It is unacceptable that two million children are in deep material poverty, lacking the basic essentials - such as a warm home and healthy food. We estimate that 1.4 million children in deep material poverty will see an increase in household income as a result of the modelled measures in the Strategy.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the geographic distribution of deep material poverty across the UK.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold data on the number of children in deep material poverty broken down by geographical region or constituency. Estimates are available for the number of children and households that are expected to gain from the removal of two-child limit at constituency level here Poverty impacts of social security changes at Budget 2025 - GOV.UK.
As deep material poverty is impacted by a range of un-modellable factors, such as families’ broader resources, support networks and financial resilience, it is not possible to model reductions in deep material poverty in the same way as for relative low income. Instead, we have provided analysis on number of children in deep material poverty who will gain from the strategy, which can be found at the link above.
It is unacceptable that two million children are in deep material poverty, lacking the basic essentials - such as a warm home and healthy food. We estimate that 1.4 million children in deep material poverty will see an increase in household income as a result of the modelled measures in the Strategy.
Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to publish a fuller equalities impact assessment of the Child Poverty Strategy, including its impact on groups at highest risk of poverty.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A full summary Equalities Analysis was published alongside the Strategy and is available at: Child Poverty Strategy: Summary Equalities Analysis - GOV.UK.
The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).
The ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow. The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026, with annual reporting on progress thereafter, this can be found here: Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children are classified as being in deep material poverty in Camborne and Redruth constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold data on the number of children in deep material poverty broken down by geographical region or constituency. Geographical analyses are usually presented as 3-year averages due to the volatility of single year estimates based on small sample sizes. We anticipate regional breakdowns being available in future years, once more data becomes available. More information can be found at: Deep material poverty: Financial year ending 2024 - GOV.UK.
As deep material poverty is impacted by a range of un-modellable factors, such as families’ broader resources, support networks and financial resilience, it is not possible to model reductions in deep material poverty in the same way as for relative low income. Instead, we have provided analysis on number of children in deep material poverty who will gain from the strategy, which can be found here: Child Poverty Strategy: Impact on low income poverty levels and children gaining in the UK: December 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his department is taking to prevent people from dying in fuel poverty.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Tackling fuel poverty is a priority for this Government. We will be publishing a new fuel poverty strategy for England to ensure that many more fuel poor households are protected by 2030, in parallel to the Warm Homes Plan.
In March the Government allocated around £1.8 billion to local authorities and social housing providers to support low-income households through the Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. This funding will support 170,000 households to get energy saving upgrades, helping families stay warm and cut bills.
In addition, the Chancellor has announced a further £1.5 billion to support upgrades for low-income households, benefiting those in fuel poverty. The details of this will be set out soon in the Warm Homes Plan.
Financial support is available to eligible low-income households across Great Britain through the Warm Home Discount which has been expanded for this winter increasing the total number of households that are estimated to receive the discount from 3.2 million to around 6 million.
DESNZ is working with other government departments to drive better availability and sharing of data to enable us in the future to more effectively target support to those who need help with their energy bills.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 in Poole constituency who will become newly eligible for support measures introduced under the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold data on the number of children in the Poole constituency who will become newly eligible for support measures introduced under the Child Poverty Strategy. Estimates are available for the number of children and households that are expected to gain from the removal of two-child limit at constituency level here Poverty impacts of social security changes at Budget 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the expected uptake of family financial resilience programmes in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency under the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not hold data on the expected uptake of family financial resilience programmes, and have not made any assessment of the number of children in households newly eligible for debt-prevention or money-management support in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency under the Child Poverty Strategy.
The Strategy recognises the important role that financial resilience must play in supporting families in poverty. The new £1 billion (including Barnett consequential) Crisis and Resilience Fund, launching in April 2026, will invest in local financial resilience to enable communities to better deal with crises in the long-term, reducing dependence and repeat need.
Alongside this, the government is boosting financial resilience through helping low-income families to save, increasing debt advice provision and providing financial education and money management tools. The Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, published on 5 November 2025, brings together the foundations of financial resilience in support of the Child Poverty Strategy.
Alongside the Child Poverty Strategy, we have set out our initial plans for monitoring and evaluation to ensure our strategy is on track to tackle child poverty. We will work with departments and policy owners to complement existing monitoring and evaluation plans, and support them to further assess the delivery and impact of their policies on child poverty, particularly for policies where it is important to capture wider benefits. Further details on our approach to monitoring and evaluation will follow in a baseline report in Summer 2026.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in households newly eligible for debt-prevention or money-management support under the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not hold data on the expected uptake of family financial resilience programmes, and have not made any assessment of the number of children in households newly eligible for debt-prevention or money-management support in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency under the Child Poverty Strategy.
The Strategy recognises the important role that financial resilience must play in supporting families in poverty. The new £1 billion (including Barnett consequential) Crisis and Resilience Fund, launching in April 2026, will invest in local financial resilience to enable communities to better deal with crises in the long-term, reducing dependence and repeat need.
Alongside this, the government is boosting financial resilience through helping low-income families to save, increasing debt advice provision and providing financial education and money management tools. The Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, published on 5 November 2025, brings together the foundations of financial resilience in support of the Child Poverty Strategy.
Alongside the Child Poverty Strategy, we have set out our initial plans for monitoring and evaluation to ensure our strategy is on track to tackle child poverty. We will work with departments and policy owners to complement existing monitoring and evaluation plans, and support them to further assess the delivery and impact of their policies on child poverty, particularly for policies where it is important to capture wider benefits. Further details on our approach to monitoring and evaluation will follow in a baseline report in Summer 2026.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 projected number of children in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency who will become newly eligible for support measures introduced under the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not have an estimate of the projected number of children in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency who will become newly eligible for support measures introduced under the Child Poverty Strategy or hold data on the proportion of low-income households in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency expected to benefit from changes to income-related thresholds outlined in the Child Poverty Strategy. Estimates are available for the number of children and households that are expected to gain from the removal of two-child limit at constituency level here Poverty impacts of social security changes at Budget 2025 - GOV.UK.