§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will publish the income levels of recipients 115W of benefits relative to the Council of Europe poverty threshold; and if she will make it her policy to publish such figures regularly in the future. [1755]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyThe information is not available in the format requested.
The income levels of benefit recipients vary widely and, in particular, benefits which are not income-related are spread across the income distribution. Information on the distribution of benefit expenditure by household income of recipient is given in the 1997 Social Security Departmental Report, page 47. Information on the numbers of individuals reporting income-related benefit receipt by position in the income distribution is provided in Table G of 'Households Below Average Income'; the analysis for 1979 to 1993–94 was published in November 1996. The Council of Europe decency threshold relates to individual earnings, but the income levels of recipients of benefits are more appropriately measured as total income on a benefit unit or household basis as they are in the publications listed above. It is therefore not meaningful to compare these income levels with the Council of Europe threshold.