§ Dr. Howard Stoate (Dartford)I beg leave to present a petition for the Zacchaeus 2000 Trust. We know that poverty causes ill health, but little evidence exists on the threshold at which that occurs. The petition therefore calls for the research into the minimum incomes needed to provide good health so as to inform Government policy-making. The petition has the support of 28 non-governmental organisations with a membership of more than 7.8 million people and 84 church leaders. It has 6,740 signatures, and those supporting it include the British Medical Association, the National Pensioners Convention, the Trades Union Congress, the UK Public Health Association, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Church of Scotland and many others.
The petition states:
The petition of the Trustees of the Zacchaeus 2000 Trust and othersDeclares that the law as it stands does not require the minimum incomes needed by various categories of person to be taken into account when decisions are taken about taxation and other matters.The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Secretary of State for Social Security to introduce legislation which will provide the Government with information about the minimum incomes which will maintain good health, provide an adequate diet and other essential needs for pregnant women, their babies and toddlers, adults, families with children and pensioners and which will be taken into account when decisions are being made about the levels of local and national taxes, benefits, the minimum wage, working families tax credit, pensions and by the courts when determining the level of fines, the repayment of debts and all deductions from benefits.To lie upon the Table.