Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of any gap between male and female persistent poverty rates.

Between 2011 and 2015 7% of adult men and 9% of adult women were in persistent low income Before Housing Costs.

Over the same survey period 10% of adult men and 11% of adult women were in persistent low income After Housing Costs.

An individual is considered to be in persistent low income if they live in a household whose income has been less than 60 per cent of the median equivalised net household income in at least 3 out of the last 4 survey periods.

Full analysis of persistent low income is available in Income Dynamics (published in March 2017). The government is committed to measuring the percentage of children in persistent low income, as set out in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.