Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect of changes in the level of inflation on the value of social security benefits in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

We know that work is the best route out of poverty. That is why the Government has introduced welfare reforms – such as those included in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 to increase work incentives and reduce welfare dependency. These reforms are working.

We now have the lowest rate of unemployment in over a decade, and the lowest number of workless households since records began. Millions of people are taking home more of what they earn thanks to this Government’s actions to lower taxes and introduce the National Living Wage. This has helped give lower earners their fastest pay rise in 20 years.