HC Deb 13 July 1994 vol 246 c642W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what definition Her Majesty's Government use of absolute poverty.

Mr. Burt

No Government in the United Kingdom have ever accepted that it is possible to identify a single simple measure to define poverty in any meaningful way. A great many methods have been used by various academics to identify a "poverty line", but none has received general acceptance.

Rather than relying on narrow arbitrary definitions this Department publishes an extensive range of analyses and information of the incomes and characteristics of people in the lower half of the income distribution. These analyses can be found in "Households Below Average Income", the latest edition of which was published on 30 June 1993 covering the years 1979 to 1990. A copy is in the Library. The next edition is due to be published on 14 July covering the years 1979 to 1991–92.