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Select Committee · Work and Pensions Committee

Children in poverty: Measurement and targets

Status: Closed Opened: 12 Jan 2021 Closed: 2 Feb 2022 22 recommendations 15 conclusions 1 report

This inquiry is looking at children in poverty. This is a complex subject, so the Committee’s work will be in several parts. For the first part of the inquiry, we are interested in finding out: - how child poverty can most accurately be measured and defined - what the impact of child poverty is, and … Show more

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Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Third Report - Children in poverty: Measurement and targets HC 188 22 Sep 2021 37 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

2 items
36 Conclusion Third Report - Children in poverty: Mea… Rejected

Local level data on child income poverty is important to enable national and local governments...

Local level data on child income poverty is important to enable national and local governments to plan their services. DWP’s recent work with HMRC to produce local area estimates of children in low income families is welcome, but its usefulness is reduced because the estimates do not include housing costs. … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government rejected the implied need to include housing costs in child income poverty estimates, stating there is no single administrative data source and DWP has no immediate plans to undertake the significant development work required.
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Department for Work and Pensions
37 Recommendation Third Report - Children in poverty: Mea… Rejected

We recommend that DWP works with external academics, local authorities and other government departments to...

We recommend that DWP works with external academics, local authorities and other government departments to identify options for reflecting the cost of housing in its local area estimates of children in low income families. DWP should write to us by June 2022 to update us on its analysis of options. … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government rejected the recommendation, stating there are no immediate plans to take this forward due to the lack of a single data source for housing costs and other statistical development priorities.
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Department for Work and Pensions

Oral evidence sessions

5 sessions
Date Witnesses
23 Jun 2021 Donna Ward · Department for Work and Pensions, Elaine Squires · Department for Work and Pensions, Will Quince MP · Department for Education View ↗
26 May 2021 Anne Longfield, Bruce Adamson, Ed Humpherson · UK Statistics Authority, Mike Brewer · Resolution Foundation, Robert Joyce · Institute for Fiscal Studies, The Baroness Stroud · Social Metrics Commission View ↗
12 May 2021 Charlotte Ramsden · Association of Directors of Children’s Services, Gavin Mullin · Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, Peter Tutton · StepChange, Sabine Goodwin · Independent Food Aid Network, Una Summerson · Contact-for families with disabled children, Will Tuckley · London Borough of Tower Hamlets View ↗
14 Apr 2021 Charlotte McDonough · Save the Children, Professor David Taylor-Robinson · University of Liverpool, Professor Paul Bywaters · University of Huddersfield, Rebecca Jacques · Children’s Society, Sophie Howes · Child Poverty Action Group, Yasmin Rehman · Juno Women’s Aid View ↗
3 Mar 2021 Dr Jose Manuel Roche · University of Oxford, Dr Keetie Roelen · Institute of Development Studies, Dr Kitty Stewart · London School of Economics & Political Science, Edward Davies · Centre for Social Justice, Helen Barnard · The Trussell Trust View ↗

Who gave evidence

26 witnesses
WitnessOrganisationSessions
Anne Longfield — 1
Bruce Adamson — 1
Charlotte McDonough · Policy Adviser Save the Children 1
Charlotte Ramsden · Vice President Association of Directors of Children’s Services 1
Donna Ward · Director, Poverty, Family & Disadvantage Department for Work and Pensions 1
Dr Jose Manuel Roche · Research Associate Department of International De… University of Oxford 1
Dr Keetie Roelen · Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Centre for… Institute of Development Studies 1
Dr Kitty Stewart · Associate Professor of Social Policy and Associat… London School of Economics & Political Science 1
Ed Humpherson UK Statistics Authority 1
Edward Davies · Director of Policy Centre for Social Justice 1
Elaine Squires · Deputy Director for Income, Family and Disadvanta… Department for Work and Pensions 1
Gavin Mullin · Commissioning Officer (Children and Families) Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council 1
Helen Barnard · Director of Policy, Research and Impact The Trussell Trust 1
Mike Brewer · Deputy Chief Executive Resolution Foundation 1
Peter Tutton · Head of Policy, Research and Public Affairs StepChange 1
Professor David Taylor-Robinson · Professor of Public Health and Policy University of Liverpool 1
Professor Paul Bywaters · Professor of Social Work University of Huddersfield 1
Rebecca Jacques · Policy Officer Children’s Society 1
Robert Joyce · Deputy Director and Head of the Income, Work and … Institute for Fiscal Studies 1
Sabine Goodwin · Co-ordinator Independent Food Aid Network 1
Sophie Howes · Head of Policy Child Poverty Action Group 1
The Baroness Stroud · Chair of the Social Metrics Commission, and Chief… Social Metrics Commission 1
Una Summerson · Head of Policy and Public Affairs Contact-for families with disabled children 1
Will Quince MP · Minister for Children and Families Department for Education 1
Will Tuckley · Chief Executive London Borough of Tower Hamlets 1
Yasmin Rehman · Chief Executive Officer Juno Women’s Aid 1

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
16 Jul 2021 — Correspondence with Minister for Welfare Delivery - follow up on oral evidence …