Poverty (Leeds) (Hansard, 28 March 2000)

§ Mr. Bayley

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

We are determined to tackle the problems that condemn many individuals and communities to poverty. That is why we set out our strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion in our first annual report "Opportunity for All" (Cm 4445). The report includes a range of indicators that capture the many aspects of poverty and social exclusion.

We are unable to present low income statistics for Leeds, Central parliamentary constituency and the City of Leeds because they are not statistically robust for areas smaller than geographical regions. However, information for the whole of Yorkshire and Humberside Government office region is shown in the table.

Number of individuals below 60 per cent. median income in Yorkshire and Humberside, including the self-employed
Million
	Before housing costs	After housing costs
1994–95	1.1	1.4
1995–96	1.0	1.1
1996–97	1.1	1.2
1997–98	1.0	1.2

Note:

Some of the fluctuation in numbers between years may be due to sample variability

Source:

Households Below Average Income

Some indicators of poverty and social exclusion are available at the local authority level. For example, the following table shows the number of beneficiaries receiving Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance.

Number of beneficiaries on Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance (income-based) for the City of Leeds and Leeds, Central parliamentary constituency
Thousand
Period	Yorkshire and Humberside GOR	Leeds local authority district	Leeds, Central parliamentary constituency
August
1993	894	n/a	n/a
1994	896	124	n/a
1995	901	118	n/a
1996	869	122	n/a
1997	805	108	30
1998	769	101	23
1999	763	98	23
n/a = Not available

Notes:

1. Beneficiaries are claimants, their partner, and any dependent child or young person aged 0 to 19.
2. Information by GOR is not available prior to 1993. However there were 747 thousand Income Support beneficiaries in May 1991, and 812 thousand beneficiaries in May 1992 in the Yorkshire and Humberside Government Standard Statistical region.
3. Information by parliamentary constituency is not available prior to August 1997.
4. Information on beneficiaries is not available for local authority districts prior to 1993.
5. Local authority areas are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS 1995–99 Version 1/Version 2 postcode directories.
6. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
7. Numbers are based on a 1 per cent, sample up to 1994 and a 5 per cent, sample thereafter. Numbers are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.
8. Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance replaced Income Support for the unemployed from October 1996.
9. Income Support (IS) figures quoted prior to October 1996, include unemployed IS claimants.

Improving educational attainment is an intrinsic part of our strategy for tackling the causes of poverty and social exclusion. In 1997 in Leeds, 63 per cent. of students in English and 63 per cent. in Maths achieved Level 4 and above in Key Stage 2. By 1999 this had improved to 72 per cent. in English and 71 per cent. in Maths.

The health of our children is also an important indicator of levels of poverty and social exclusion. In the City of Leeds in 1997–98, the rate at which children (aged under 16) were admitted to hospital as a result of an unintentional injury resulting in a hospital stay of more than three days was 1.0 per thousand (to the nearest 0.5 per thousand). This has fallen from 1.5 per thousand in 1995–96.

Further information on the indicators we will use to monitor its progress in tackling poverty and social exclusion, including definitions and baseline data, has been placed in the Library on 21 September to accompany "Opportunity for All".