Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Buscombe on 25 June (HL Deb, col 1004), what sources they used to inform their statements that the UK (1) delivers the fourth most generous level of welfare support in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), (2) spends more on family benefits than any other country in the G7, and (3) spends the second highest amount on family benefits as a share of GDP, in the OECD.

(1) This statement was due to official error. We are the fourth most generous country according to the UN 2019 World Happiness Report. The UK spends £220bn on welfare each year, providing vital financial support for the most vulnerable in society.

(2) and (3) These two statements come from OECD 2015 data (https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=SOCX_AGG). 2015 data is used as it is the most recent full data set. Please note that OECD definitions do not always match UK definitions, but insure data is comparable across OECD countries.