Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many rural households were in fuel poverty in (a) each region of England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland as of 22 March 2024.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
DESNZ has responsibility for the measurement of fuel poverty in England. The latest estimates of fuel poverty in England are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics
Table 5 of the detailed tables shows the number of fuel poor households by rurality in 2023 and Table 6 by region. Due to sample size constraints, it is not possible to provide suitable estimates for rural households in fuel poverty by individual region.
Fuel poverty is a devolved matter and different metrics of fuel poverty are used in the Devolved Administrations.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of levels of in-work poverty in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics are not available at the constituency level.
National Statistics on the number and percentage of people in “in-work poverty”, including regional-level data, is published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. This can be found here.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the release of data showing that the number of children living in absolute poverty has risen by the highest rate in 30 years, what steps they are taking to address the increase in child poverty rates.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
These statistics cover 2022/23, a year when war in Ukraine and global supply chain challenges led to unexpected and high rates on inflation, averaging 10% over the year. These factors are reflected in the statistics. In response to these pressures, the Government provided an unprecedented cost of living support package which helped to shield households from the impact of inflation. Analysis shows that the Government’s cost of living support prevented 1.3 million people from falling into absolute poverty after housing costs in 2022/23. That includes 300,000 children, 600,000 working-age adults and 400,000 pensioners.
Since the period covered by these statistics, the Government has taken firm action to support families on the lowest incomes. The Government has spent around £276bn through the welfare system in 2023/24, including around £125bn on people of working age and children. We took action to support those on the lowest incomes by uprating benefits and State Pensions by 10.1% from April 2023. We are continuing to support people in 2024/25 by uprating working age benefits by 6.7% and raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2022/23, children living in workless households were over 6 times more likely to be in absolute poverty (after housing costs) than those where all adults work.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Markham on 11 March (HL Deb col 1802), and taking account of the latest Households Below Average Income data, which shows a 300,000 increase in the number of children living in absolute poverty in the past year, what assessment they have made of the impact on health and well-being of the two-child limit for child benefit; and what assessment they have made of the strengths and weaknesses of using the measure of absolute poverty rather than relative poverty.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is not possible to produce a robust assessment of the impact of the two-child limit.
Child Benefit continues to be paid for all children in eligible families.
Relative poverty sets a threshold as a proportion of the UK median income and moves each year as average income changes.
Typically, a household is in relative poverty if its income is less than 60 per cent of the median household income.
Absolute poverty, by our definition, is a threshold as a proportion of the UK average income in a given year (2010/11) and moves each year in line with inflation.
This government prefers to look at Absolute poverty over Relative poverty as relative poverty can provide counter-intuitive results.
Relative poverty is likely to fall during recessions, due to falling median incomes. Under this measure, poverty can decrease even if people are getting poorer.
The absolute poverty line is fixed in real terms, so will only ever worsen if people are getting poorer, and only ever improve if people are getting richer.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of children living in (a) absolute and (b) relative poverty in each year since 2007 in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales, (iv) Northern Ireland and (v) the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty per country in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication in “table 4.22ts” and “table 4.17ts” (respectively) of “children-hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2022-23-tables” at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 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/
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
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 number of children living in (a) absolute and (b) relative poverty per constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty per constituency are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication and can be found in tabs “6_Absolute_ParlC” and “5_Relative_ParlC” at Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 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/
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2024 to Question 17957 on Warm Home Discount Scheme, what steps she is able to take to ensure that the regional electricity areas with the highest levels of fuel poverty are adequately financially supported, in the context of no data being collated centrally on the number of households receiving Warm Home Discounts by regional electricity area.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Warm Home Discount scheme is targeted to low-income households at risk of fuel poverty, providing a £150 rebate to eligible households. In England and Wales, the government sets the eligibility criteria and identifies households through data matching. In Scotland, the government identifies eligible low-income pensioners through data matching, meanwhile other low-income households in Scotland must apply to their energy supplier who can set their own criteria, subject to approval by Ofgem.
The government published official statistics for winter 2022/23 last year which showed, that across England, the distribution of rebates across regions is roughly consistent with the fuel poverty statistics for rates of fuel poverty. The government does not produce equivalent statistics for Scotland as fuel poverty is devolved and measured differently.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment she has made on the impact of rising energy prices on the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce fuel poverty levels in those areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Energy prices have fallen significantly since the winter of 2022-23. The Quarter 2 2024 price cap of £1,690 has fallen by nearly 60% since the Quarter 1 2023 price cap peak. Despite this fall in prices, we have been supporting millions of vulnerable and low income households through the £900 cost-of-living payments, alongside established financial support including the £150 Warm Home Discount.
There are also multiple targeted energy efficiency schemes in place delivering measures to low income and fuel poor households.
We are currently reviewing the 2021 fuel poverty strategy for England ‘Sustainable Warmth’.
Sub-regional fuel poverty estimates for 2022 will be published on 25th April 2024.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of households that will be in fuel poverty in winter 2024-25 and ineligible for energy bill support.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Fuel poverty is devolved; the Department has responsibility for England. The next estimates of fuel poverty in Scotland will be published by the Scottish Government on 29th February.
Targeted energy bill support is in place across Great Britain through the Warm Home Discount (WHD), the Winter Fuel Payment and additionally the Winter Heating Payment in Scotland. The fuel poverty statistics for England published on 15th February provide analysis of how WHD eligibility across 2023 supported households that would have been in fuel poverty and other low-income households in Annex F. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics#2023-statistics
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve the effectiveness of UK aid programmes in (a) reducing poverty, (b) increasing literacy rates and (c) increasing life expectancies.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The International Development White Paper sets out the UK's agenda to re-energise progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, including the central aim of eliminating extreme poverty. To this end, the UK aims to spend at least 50 per cent of our bilateral ODA in the Least Developed Countries.
The FCDO has developed two new programmes that will measure and assess literacy rates, among other objectives. The Scaling Access and Learning in Education programme will help transform the effectiveness of education spending in low- and lower middle-income countries and improve learning outcomes, including on literacy. The Data for Foundational Learning Programme will help track children's learning outcomes globally; generate more learning data nationally; and ensure these data are used.
We are making good progress against the Global Health Framework, which outlines the UK's work on Global Health to support a positive impact on health and wellbeing and thus life expectancy. For example, we announced £5 million of additional funding to TB Alliance to support more effective drug resistant treatment with fewer side effects and £370 million to strengthen global health security at United Nations General Assembly September 2023.
Furthermore, the FCDO is committed to improving the effectiveness of all UK aid. FCDO's Programme Operating Framework maximises the impact of aid through consideration of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity. Programmes undergo an annual review of effectiveness, using a results framework. These are published to the Development Tracker website (https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk), which further supports aid effectiveness by providing information to inform other donors spending decisions.