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Poverty: Children

Volume 486: debated on Thursday 15 January 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's latest estimate is of the number of disabled children living below the poverty line in (a) the UK, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) England in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. (241195)

The available information is shown in the following table.

Figures for Scotland and Wales are not available due to sample size volatility, while data for the United Kingdom are only available from 2002-03. Figures for Great Britain are available for earlier years and have been provided.

Number (million) of disabled children living in households below 60 per cent. of contemporary median household income (Before housing costs)

England

GB

UK

1997-98

0.2

0.3

n/a

1998-99

0.2

0.2

n/a

1999-2000

0.2

0.2

n/a

2000-01

0.1

0.2

n/a

2001-02

0.1

0.2

n/a

2002-03

0.1

0.2

0.2

2003-04

0.1

0.2

0.2

2004-05

0.1

0.2

0.2

2005-06

0.1

0.1

0.2

2006-07

0.1

0.2

0.2

n/a = Not available.

Notes:

1. These statistics are based on households below average income data which is sourced from the Family Resources Survey.

2. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response.

3. The reference period for households below average Income figures is single financial years.

4. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication 'Households Below Average Income' series, which uses disposable household income, adjusted (or "equivalised") for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. Median incomes are used as the national average in the publication.

5. The figures are based on OECD equivalisation factors.

6. Figures have been presented on a before housing costs basis. For before housing costs, housing costs (such as rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, structural insurance payments and ground rent and service charges) are not deducted from income, while for after housing costs they are.

7. Numbers of disabled children in low-income households have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 children.

8. The disability definition up to 2001-02 defines disability as having a long-term illness, disability or infirmity that limits the activity of the individual in some way. This definition changed from 2002-03 to be more in line with the Disability Discrimination Act's definition of disability which defines disability as having a long-term illness, disability or infirmity that leads to a significant difficulty with one or more areas of the individual's life. The change in the definition has only a very minor impact on the statistics.

Source:

Households Below Average Income.