§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What statistics they have on the number of children in families living in poverty in the years 2002–03; 2003–04; and 2004–05 (at the latest date for which figures are available). [HL5004]
§ Baroness Hollis of HeighamPoverty is about more than low income, it also impacts on the way people live—their health, housing and the quality of their environment. The sixth annualOpportunity for all report (Cm 6239) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and presents information on the indicators used to measure progress against this strategy. In December 2003, we published Measuring child poverty which outlines the Government's new measure of child poverty which will be used from 2004–05.
There is not a measure which sets out the numbers of children in poverty. However, data on the number of children living in low-income households are available. The threshold of below 60 per cent contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting absolute and relative trends in low income.
The number of children below the 60 per cent contemporary median income in 2002–03, the latest year available, can be found in Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2002–03. This is available in the Library and also contains information on the characteristics of households living in low income.