Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 29
Third Report - Children in poverty: Measurement and targets
Published 22 Sep 2021
Paragraph 107
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
DWP should work with other UK producers of income statistics to co-ordinate the current suite of survey and data analysis to strengthen the breadth and depth of work and improve reporting clarity. DWP should write to us by March 2022 setting out the additional steps it has taken to integrate surveys to maximise their efficiency and reach.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Third Report - Children in poverty: Measurement and targets (HC 188), paragraph 107, 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".