Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Conclusion 3
Third Report - Children in poverty: Measurement and targets
Published 22 Sep 2021
Paragraph 28
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee Children in poverty: Measurement and targets All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Poverty is at least partly about a lack of material resources, and most people consider income to be a core measure of poverty. But definitions of poverty cannot be entirely divorced from the society in which people live. A ‘poverty line’ should relate to the normal expectations of, and the cost of living and participating in, that society. Making a decision about where to draw that line is, however, a matter of judgment. These decisions should nevertheless be informed by what the evidence tells us about the impact of being below that line.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Third Report - Children in poverty: Measurement and targets (HC 188), paragraph 28, 22 September 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 December 2021 (deadline 22 November 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says tackling child poverty is "a cross-government priority" and, in its response, largely declines or defers the Committee's recommendations on new research, expanded indicators and a new strategy, while committing to continue publishing the four statutory measures.
- On commissioning a systematic review of the evidence on child income poverty, it states: "We have no plans to commission a published systematic review at this time."
- It will continue to publish all four statutory low income measures. Analysts "are intending to review" the material deprivation goods and services, and the government will update the Committee "in due course".
- On widening the 'Helping Workless Families Indicators', it says it does "not intend to expand the scope of this publication further at this time", as statistics on the quantity and quality of work are published elsewhere.
- It remains committed to publishing Households Below Average Income in March 2022, "subject to the usual checks on data quality". On local area housing-cost estimates it has "no immediate plans", and on a Family Resources Survey subgroup list by June 2022 it says this is "not possible".