§ Mr. David TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimates he has made of the number and proportion of children living in poverty in(a) North West Leicestershire and (b) Leicestershire with Leicester; and what the comparable figures are for (c) the East Midlands and (d) England. [92080]
§ Mr. TimmsWe recognise that poverty is a many faceted concept. One indicator used is to look at the numbers and proportions of individuals in households where the equivalised household income is below proportions of the contemporary national average. The tables show the numbers of children in households with below 50 per cent. and 60 per cent. of contemporary mean income. Information is not available for geographic areas smaller than regions.
Dependent children below various percentiles of the income distribution, including the self-employed Percentages of each group Before housing costs After housing costs Below 0.5 Below 0.6 Below 0.5 Below 0.6 East Midlands Percentage 23 37 29 40 Million 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.4 England Percentage 25 38 34 43 Million 2.8 4.3 3.9 4.9
Dependent children below various percentiles of the income distribution, including the self-employed Percentages of each group Before housing costs After housing costs Below 0.5 Below 0.6 Below 0.5 Below 0.6 East midlands Percentage 120 36 28 39 Million 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 England Percentage 23 36 34 43 Million 2.2 3.5 3.3 4.2 1 Sample sizes are small for the East Midlands. The estimate is based on a sample of less than 100 households. Notes:
1. All figures are estimates and are taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data set which is based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The FRS covers Great Britain, and the national average income used in the tables is that for Great Britain. It does not include Northern Ireland. 1996–97 is the latest year for which information is available. The figures presented will be subject to sampling error.
2. The income measure used is weekly net (disposable) equivalised household income (that is to say income that is adjusted to reflect the composition of the household). It is standard HBAI practice to give results for income both before and after housing costs, in order 579W to allow for the effect of variations in housing costs between households. Results are also provided including and excluding the self-employed, reflecting the inherent uncertainty of income measures for the self-employed.
3. Numbers and percentages below half average income before housing costs are sensitive to the choice of equivalence scale.
4. Due to the sampling method and sample sizes used in the FRS, results are not available below government office regional level.
5. Dependent children are defined as: an individual aged under 16 or an unmarried 16 to 18 year old on a course up to and including `A' level standard.
Source:
Family Resources Survey 1996–97
An alternative indicate of child poverty is to look at numbers in families in receipt of Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance.
Children in families of Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance (income based) claimants February 1999 Number of children Percentage of all children North West Leicestershire Local Authority 2,000 13 Leicester Local Authority 20,000 29 East Midlands Government Office Region 156,000 18 England 2,132,000 21 Notes:
1. Based on a 5 per cent. sample and therefore subject to a degreeof sampling error.
2. Children are defined as aged 0 to 15 years.
3. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
4. All children is defined as children aged 0 to 15 years in each allocated Local Authority/Government Office Region, based on Mid 1997 estimates.
5. Local Authorities/Government Office Regions are assigned by matching postcodes against the 1999 postcode directory.