§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Prime Minister what response she will be making to the reports dealing with housing and the gap between the rich and poor presented to her at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on 21 May.
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland will, in due course, respond on behalf of the Government, to the report "Housing Scotland's People".
The discussion of poverty appears to rest heavily on the old DHSS low-income families statistics, which used the supplementary benefit scale rates as the yardstick for the measurement of low income. This series has been the subject of a recent technical review, the report of which has been placed in the Library. The report highlights a number of significant weaknesses in the approach, including the fact that under it the more help provided to those dependent on benefit, the more people will appear to be on "low incomes". In addition, there are significant statistical reservations about estimates for Scotland in isolation. The hon. Member may be aware that the recently published "Households Below Average Income—a statistical analysis 1981–85" shows that those in the lowest income groups have seen higher than average increases in real incomes.