§ Ms CorstonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list research commissioned or undertaken by his Department since 1979 into the causes and effects of poverty, material deprivation and very low family income among children in any part of the United Kingdom, specifying the year and cost of each project; and whether he has any plans for such research.
§ Mr. BurtResearch is regularly conducted into the role of social security and its impact on those in low-income households. A list of research projects sponsored by the Department is published in the social security research yearbooks, formerly the DHSS handbook of research and development, copies of which are in the Library.
In addition, the Department sponsors a number of long-running statistical surveys to monitor change in the composition and circumstances of households and the level and nature of their income. These provide the basic data for research and analysis by other interested researchers.