Households Below Average Income Statistics Debate

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Department: Department for Work and Pensions

Households Below Average Income Statistics

Philip Hollobone Excerpts
Thursday 28th March 2019

(5 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Amber Rudd Portrait Amber Rudd
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The hon. Lady is right—we are looking at the factors to do with food banks. I want to take a very open approach to finding out what is going on and what the drivers are, because sometimes there are quite a lot of conclusions. I want to make sure that there is an opportunity to do some myth-busting and find out what we can do to allay this.

Philip Hollobone Portrait Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
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I have been listening carefully—have I got this correct? Since 2010, 400,000 people have been taken out of absolute poverty, 665,000 fewer children are in workless households, 1.7 million people are no longer paying income tax because of the increase in the personal allowance, and the national minimum wage is now at record levels.

Amber Rudd Portrait Amber Rudd
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I thank my hon. Friend for so succinctly summing up the good news for us. I would add that income inequality has also fallen.