Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on child poverty of the roll-out of universal credit in (a) Leicester East constituency, (b) Leicester and (c) the East Midlands.

Universal Credit will provide an extra £2.1bn a year once full rolled out, compared to the legacy benefits it replaces. Claimants receive better support to prepare for work, move into work, or to increase earnings. The Universal Credit Work Allowance was increased by £1,000 in April 2019 and means that 2.4m households will keep an extra £630 of income each year.

DWP and HMRC have pre-announced publication of improved Official Statistics on Children in Low Income Families at local area level. These statistics will provide insights of the number of children and the proportion of children living in low income families at constituency level and how these compare over time and across constituencies.