§ Lord Hoosonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they intend to take, in the light of the Eurostat survey of poverty and income distribution in 13 European Union countries, to lower the inequality in income between the richest 10 per cent. in the United Kingdom and the poorest 10 per cent. which respectively receive 26.1 per cent., and 3 per cent. of national income. [HL3381]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)The latest edition of Households Below Average Income (HBAI) covering the period 1979–1996/7 was published on 15 October. HBAI provides a more detailed picture than that available from the Eurostat survey. The HBAI estimates show that an important cause of income inequality is the substantial number of working age people living in low income, workless families. Our New Deal initiatives will help young people, lone mothers, the long term unemployed and sick and disabled people back to work. The HBAI figures also show that a significant number of pensioners remain on persistently low incomes. We believe that the introduction of the minimum income guarantee and our ongoing work on how to get help to the poorest pensioners will address this issue.