HL Deb 19 July 2001 vol 626 cc149-50WA
Lord Higgins

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Answer by Baroness Hollis of Heigham about child poverty on 10 July, what assumptions have been made about the take-up of each benefit and credit in calculating that 1.2 million children will be lifted out of poverty by 2001. [HL288]

Baroness Hollis of Heigham

This is calculated using HMT's policy simulation model. The estimate assumes full take-up of income-related benefits for non-pensioners and is consistent with the estimate that around 5 million families will benefit from the introduction of the Children's Tax Credit and that up to 1.4 million families will benefit from the Working Families' Tax Credit.

This estimate has been corroborated by independent research carried out by Holly Sutherland at Cambridge University.