Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address issues arising from family breakdowns, and the impact on male children of growing up in a household without a resident father.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government recognises the damaging impact of conflict between parents on children’s outcomes. New evidence was published last year highlighting this link, and making clear that the presence or absence of parental conflict has a much greater impact on a child’s outcomes than the structure of the child’s family. Our child maintenance system encourages separated parents to collaborate and make family based arrangements where they can, working together in the interests of their child once they separate. Evidence shows that after separation where parents are able to take a collaborative, low conflict approach it is better for children’s outcomes, including over the involvement of the non-resident parent where this is appropriate, whether this is the child’s mother or father.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the increase in the number of children in the UK being brought up in a family with only one resident parent, and in particular of the number of boys being brought up in a family with no resident father; and what policy they have developed in this regard.
Answered by Lord Henley
The information requested is not collected.
This government is committed to providing the best outcomes for children. The Department’s forthcoming Green Paper on Social Justice will outline how it plans to improve children’s outcomes.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they define family income and household income, and whether family income includes the father's income whether or not he is living with his children and their mother.
Answered by Lord Freud
The Government does not have a single standard definition of family or household income. The definition used will vary depending on the particular circumstances under consideration.
The definition of household income in the National Statistics publication Households Below Average Income, which analyses the income distribution, is:
Total income from all sources of all household members including dependants.
This definition includes any income received by a household member from an absent parent or former partner.