HL Deb 14 December 1999 vol 608 c31WA
Lord Patten

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will define rural poverty. [HL302]

Lord Whitty

Poverty and social exclusion are complex multi-dimensional issues, affecting many aspects of people's lives—their income, health, housing, the quality of the environment, their opportunities to work and to learn, and their access to services. There is no single measure that can capture the complex problems of rural poverty which need to be overcome.