Child Poverty
Work and Pensions
Paul Goodman (Shadow Minister (Childcare), Treasury; Wycombe, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State forWork and Pensions how many and what percentage of children were living in poverty in each year since 1997.
Margaret Hodge (Minister of State (Work), Department for Work and Pensions; Barking, Labour)
The seventh annual 'Opportunity for all' report (Cm 6673) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and reports progress against a range of indicators. Detailed information about the number and proportion of children living in low income households is published in Households Below Average Income 1994/95–2003/04", available in the Library. The threshold of below 60 per cent. contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting trends in low income.
The information requested is in the tables.
| Million | ||
|---|---|---|
| FRS (GB) | Before housing costs | After housing costs |
| 1996–97 | 3.2 | 4.2 |
| 1997–98 | 3.1 | 4.1 |
| 1998–99 | 3.1 | 4.1 |
| 1999–2000 | 3.0 | 4.1 |
| 2000–01 | 2.7 | 3.8 |
| 2001–02 | 2.6 | 3.7 |
| 2002–03 | 2.6 | 3.6 |
| 2003–04 | 2.6 | 3.5 |
Source:
Family Resource Survey
| FRS (GB) | Before housing costs | After housing costs |
|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 25 | 33 |
| 1997–98 | 25 | 32 |
| 1998–99 | 24 | 33 |
| 1999–2000 | 23 | 32 |
| 2000–01 | 21 | 30 |
| 2001–02 | 21 | 30 |
| 2002–03 | 21 | 28 |
| 2003–04 | 21 | 28 |
Source:
Family Resource Survey