Mentions:
1: Baroness Thornton (Lab - Life peer) However, period poverty affects one in five women across the UK. - Speech Link
2: Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (PC - Life peer) provide period dignity for all, which would also address period poverty. - Speech Link
3: Baroness Goldie (Con - Life peer) poverty and, as the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, rightly says, period dignity. - Speech Link
4: Lord Cashman (Lab - Life peer) pain and period poverty? - Speech Link
Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 28 April 2022 (HL7975), what plans they have to resume the activities of the Period Poverty Taskforce.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This Government takes the issue of period poverty very seriously and we are taking steps to ensure that period products are available and affordable for those most in need through the organisations closest to them.
Since January 2020, a Department for Education scheme provides free period products in schools and 16-19 education institutions in England. 97% of secondary schools, 92% of post 16 organisations and 68% primary schools have made at least one order since the scheme began in January 2020.
In March 2019 NHS England announced that it would offer period products to every hospital patient who needs them (including long-term in-patients).
As part of our wider strategy to make period products affordable and available for all women, we have also made it clear that a zero rate of VAT applies to period products now that the UK has left the EU. These products are essential so it is right that there is now no VAT charge.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had discussions with his counterpart in Zimbabwe on period poverty.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
I have not reviewed this matter in my meetings with President Mnangagwa or his Minister but supporting women and girls in Zimbabwe is a UK priority. Through our health programme the UK has delivered menstrual health education as part of the Sister2Sister (S2S) clubs which included supporting sustainable menstrual health options for girls such as disposable pads, reusable pads, menstrual cups, and menstrual underwear. Since 2012 the UK has worked alongside the Government of Zimbabwe to help provide sanitary products for schools through the Zimbabwe Girls Secondary Education (ZGSE) Programme implemented by CAMFED.
Nov. 16 2023
Source Page: NDA partners with Hey Girls to help eradicate period povertyFound: NDA partners with Hey Girls to help eradicate period poverty
Apr. 10 2024
Source Page: Additional child poverty analysis 2024Found: Additional child poverty analysis 2024
May. 10 2024
Source Page: The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (Modification) Regulations 2024 Equality Impact Assessment - ResultsFound: Disability The Poverty and Inequality Statistics Report, covering the period 2020-23, noted there was
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of value lost to the economy through period inequity, as set out in the report, The State of Period Equity in the UK, published by In Kind Direct on 29 February.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No formal assessment has been made. Menstrual health and gynaecological conditions are a priority in the Women’s Health Strategy for England. This strategy sets out our ambitions for improving information provision and tackling stigma surrounding topics such as periods and menstrual health, so society is better able to support women across their lives, including in schools and in workplaces. The statutory relationships, health, and sex education curriculum covers several areas of women’s health, including menstrual health. In July 2023 we launched a women’s health area on the National Health Service website, which brings together over 100 health topics, and includes a section on periods.
The Government is also committed to making period products more financially accessible, which will reduce barriers faced by women and girls in accessing education and work. The Period Product Scheme is available to girls and women in state-funded schools and colleges, providing a wide range of free period products, so that periods are not a barrier to education. 99% of secondary schools, 94% of post 16-year-old education organisations, and 75% of primary schools have used the scheme since it began in 2020. Free period products are also available for people in hospital and in custody. Since 1 January 2021, a zero rate of VAT has applied to sanitary products, and in January 2024 this was extended to include period pants.
Within the workplace, flexible working arrangements can allow individuals, including women suffering from menstrual problems, to work at a time, place, and during hours that support their needs. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act makes changes to the right to request flexible working, to provide employees with better access to flexible working arrangements.
More widely, the Government continues to support people on lower incomes, including those who struggle to afford period products. We will spend approximately £124 billion on people of working age and children, through the welfare system in Great Britain, and the Government has provided support, totalling £96 billion, from 2022 onwards to help households with the cost of living. We are providing further support for 2024/2025, including uprating working age benefits by 6.7%, raising the National Living Wage, and extending the Household Support Fund in England for a further six months.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the main causes of poverty in (a) children, (b) pensioners and (c) adults.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Poverty is a complex subject and there are different ways to measure and assess it.
DWP tracks and monitors many different aspects of poverty, including our four statutory measures for children of relative income, absolute income, combined low income and material deprivation and persistent poverty that are published annually.
National statistics on the number of individuals living in absolute and relative poverty are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Fabian Society report When I'm 64: A strategy to tackle poverty before state pension age, published on 17 April, which found that the number of people aged between 60 and the state pension age living in poverty increased by 140 per cent between 2010 and 2022, how many people currently aged over 60 and not yet eligible for the state pension are living in poverty.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest statistics show that in 2022/23, 20% (0.9m) of individuals aged over 60 and not yet eligible for the state pension were living in absolute poverty after housing costs.
Statistics on the number of individuals living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). The latest available data with age breakdowns can be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of levels of child poverty among (a) BAME, (b) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller and (c) disabled children.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty by disability in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication in “table 1_7c” and “table 1_7d” (respectively) of “summary-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2022-23-tables” at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). The number of children living in absolute and relative poverty by ethnic group of head of household can be found in “table 4_1db_BHC” and “table 4_1db_AHC” at the link above. Poverty statistics for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children are not available.
The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23. The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.