Welfare State: Scotland
(asked on 24th June 2015) - View Source
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the commissioning of analysis on the effect of welfare changes since 2010 on poverty levels in Scotland.
I meet regularly with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to discuss a wide range of welfare related matters. DWP considers carefully the impact of individual policy changes, including the effect on individuals with protected characteristics in line with its legal obligations. The Scottish Government own statistics (drawn from Households Below Average Income dataset, DWP), published in the “Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland: 2013/14 report” shows that relative poverty for all groups is either lower or at the same level in 2013/14 compared in 2009/10.
Group | Numbers in relative low income, thousands (percentage) | ||
2009/10 | 2013/14 | ||
All individuals | Before Housing Costs | 870 (17) | 730 (14) |
After Housing Costs | 970 (19) | 940 (18) | |
Children | Before Housing Costs | 200 (20) | 140 (14) |
After Housing Costs | 240 (24) | 210 (22) | |
Working-age | Before Housing Costs | 500 (16) | 440 (14) |
After Housing Costs | 600 (19) | 600 (19) | |
Pensioners | Before Housing Costs | 170 (16) | 160 (15) |
After Housing Costs | 120 (12) | 120 (12) | |
The full report is available at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/06/7453.