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Department: Department for Work and Pensions

Rachel Maclean

Main Page: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)

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UK Passport Contract
Monday 26th March 2018

(6 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Kit Malthouse Portrait Kit Malthouse
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My right hon. Friend raises an interesting point. A fair amount of analysis of that idea is currently going on. As soon as we have a conclusion, we will let him know.

Rachel Maclean Portrait Rachel Maclean (Redditch) (Con)
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Will the Minister confirm what he and the Government think is the most useful measure of poverty? Is it absolute or relative poverty, and can he tell us why?

Kit Malthouse Portrait Kit Malthouse
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My hon. Friend displays her normal mental acuity in putting her finger on the point here. She is completely right: relative poverty is a poor indicator of how people are faring. For example, if everybody’s wages were to double overnight tonight, absolute poverty would plummet, but relative poverty would stay exactly the same.

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