To ask the Scottish Executive how many families were living in poverty in each month of each year since 1996.

Poverty cannot be measured by a single indicator. The Social Justice Annual Report contains 29 milestones which describe different aspects of poverty and social exclusion. Low income is one part of the picture.

The headline measure of low income is conventionally defined to be household income below 60% of the GB median after housing costs, but it is also important to consider additional indicators based on a range of thresholds of mean and median income to gain a fuller picture.

Data on low income households are only available on an annual basis. The following tables 1 and 2 detail the proportion of households with relative¹ low income below a range of thresholds and cover the years since 1996-97. Tables 3 and 4 provide the same information but based on thresholds of absolute⁴ low income. All figures are based on a sample survey, and as such are subject to sampling variation. Care should therefore be taken in their interpretation.

Table 1 – Proportion of Households in Scotland which are Low Income Households Based on 50% and 60% Mean Thresholds (Relative Measure)¹

Table 2 – Proportion of Households in Scotland which are Low Income Households Based on 50%, 60% and 70% Median Thresholds (Relative Measure)¹

Table 3 – Proportion of Households in Scotland which are Low Income Households Based on 50% and 60% Mean Thresholds (Absolute Measure)⁴

Table 4 – Proportion of Households in Scotland which are Low Income Households Based on 50%, 60% and 70% Median Thresholds (Absolute Measure)⁴

Source : Households Below Average Income analysis, Department for Work and Pensions

Notes:

1. Thresholds are measured against the GB mean or median for the relevant year.

2. Before Housing Costs.

3. After Housing Costs.

4. Thresholds are measured against the GB mean or median for 1996-97 uprated to remove the effects of inflation.

We are currently unable to provide estimates of the numbers of low income households due to methodological problems with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data source from which they are derived. We have been working with DWP to revise their methodology and we hope to be able to provide estimates of numbers as well as proportions in the near future. The new methodology may lead to revisions to previously published figures. Such differences are, however, likely to be very small and should not alter any of the general trends. As part of an on-going programme to improve data quality, there will be further revisions to this data series when full results of the 2001 Census of Population become available.