§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the Government's aim to eradicate child poverty in this country by 2020. [172912]
§ Mr. PondI refer the hon. Member to the oral answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Redcar (Vera Baird) on 26 April 2004,Official Report, column 625–26.
§ Phil SawfordTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions using the 1999 Millennium Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey, how many children he estimates lived in families with below 70 per cent. of the before housing costs national median income who also lacked(a) one or more and (b) two or more of the necessities proposed in the annex of the document Measuring Child Poverty; and how many of those categorised as missing out on (i) one or more and (ii) two or more of the list of necessities did not have before housing cost income; below 60 per cent. of median income in 1999. [173450]
§ Mr. PondWe have not made any estimates using the 1999 Millennium Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey.
The official Government estimates of low income are derived from the Family Resources Survey-based Households Below Average Income dataset. Data for the material deprivation element of the measure outlined in the document Measuring Child Poverty will be collected on the Family Resources Survey from 2004–05, and will be published in 2006.
Copies of the 'Measuring Child Poverty' document are available in the Library.