Poverty

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the proportion of (a) children, (b) people and (c) elderly people in (i) rural areas and (ii) England who live in poverty. (301860)

Estimates of the numbers of people, elderly people and children in rural areas living in poverty are derived from the Family Resources Survey produced by the Department for Work and Pensions. The Survey is available on the Department’s website and a copy is also in the Library:

http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/frs/2007_08/frs_2007_08_report.pdf

*Table 1: Proportion of various groups below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income in 2007-08 for rural areas and England, before housing costs*
Percentage
	Rural	England
Children	16	22
Pensioners	21	23
All individuals	15	18

*Table 2: Proportion of various groups below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income in 2007-08 for rural areas and England, after housing costs*
Percentage
	Rural	England
Children	25	32
Pensioners	17	18
All individuals	19	23
Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income, sourced from the Family Resources Survey. 2. Small changes 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 are 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’ (HBAI) 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. 5. For the Households Below Average Income series, incomes have been equivalised using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) equivalisation factors. 6. Numbers of children, pensioners and individuals in low income have been rounded to the nearest 100,000.

Volume 501: debated on Tuesday 1 December 2009