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Written Question
Poverty: Children
Wednesday 27th March 2024

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.


Written Question
Debts: Standard of Living
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the findings in the Christians Against Poverty report entitled Pushed under, pushed out, published on 12 March 2024, relating to the impact of high debt repayments on people's living standards.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

No formal assessment has been made.


Written Question
Debts: Standard of Living
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report entitled Pushed Under, Pushed Out, published by Christians Against Poverty on 12 March 2024.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

No formal assessment has been made.


Written Question
Climate Change: Marine Environment
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential connection between global ocean protection and mitigating the effects of climate change.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recognises that climate change and biodiversity loss, alongside other human pressures, are having a detrimental impact on ocean health. Ocean action can be part of our response to both challenges; protecting and restoring coastal and marine habitats can provide a wide array of benefits, including flood protection, improving biodiversity, carbon sequestration and supporting ecosystems to be more resilient to climate impacts.

The UK plays a leading role in advocating for nature and ocean to be embedded in global climate action. The annual UNFCCC Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue was established under our COP26 Presidency. At COP28, we worked with international partners to secure a negotiated decision for the first Global Stocktake which encouraged the strengthening of ocean-based climate action.

As Chair of the Global Ocean Alliance, the UK successfully led calls for ambitious and meaningful outcomes for the ocean from the Convention on Biological Diversity COP15. As agreed at that COP, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework includes commitments to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030, restore degraded ecosystems and to tackle the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification, with Parties noting the interlinkage between these targets.

The UK played a significant and proactive role in securing The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement which will mean much greater protection for the two-thirds of the global ocean that lies beyond national jurisdiction. The Agreement will play a key role supporting the delivery of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including helping to achieve the target to effectively conserve and manage at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.

Financed from the UK aid budget, the £500 million Blue Planet Fund supports developing countries to reduce poverty, protect and sustainably manage their marine resources and address human-generated threats across four interlinked key themes, one of which is climate change.


Written Question
Poverty: Children
Monday 25th March 2024

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) ofchildren-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/


Written Question
Poverty: Children
Monday 25th March 2024

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, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) Unicef and (b) the United Nations Rapporteur on extreme poverty on initiatives to tackle child poverty.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP officials engage with a wide range of stakeholders including UNICEF.


Written Question
Fuel Poverty
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)

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 assessment of the potential merits of including (a) LED lighting, (b) water efficiency devices and (c) other bill-saving technologies in the scope of (i) the Energy Company Obligation and (ii) other fuel poverty schemes.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Under current assessments, Government energy efficiency schemes prioritise measures that have beneficial long-term effects on lowering bills and making homes more comfortable and affordable to live in.

Current schemes allow the installation of measures which improve the energy performance of a dwelling within the scope of the “Standard Assessment Procedure” (SAP) – which assesses the energy performance of dwellings.

This can include measures such as solid wall insulation, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, underfloor insulation, draught-proofing, air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps, high heat retention storage heating, low energy lighting, solar PV, solar thermal and heating controls.


Written Question
Poverty: Children
Monday 25th March 2024

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/


Written Question
Warm Home Discount Scheme
Friday 22nd March 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, 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.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Children
Friday 22nd March 2024

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, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the two child limit on the numbers of children living in (a) absolute and (b) relative poverty between 2018 and 2035.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

It is not possible to produce a robust assessment.