Measuring Child Poverty: A Consultation Document
I am belatedly following up Paul's note of a couple of weeks ago with one I
am putting out on various mailbases. Apologies if you get it more than
once.
I believe that the consultation document will be of interest to many readers
of this mailbase. It is not often that a UK government consultation
document uses and specifically refers to much research and analysis - and
not only to work in this country but also abroad, and to many more than I
mention below. In my view, as members of that research community, we should
take note of it and respond as we think appropriate.
In the note below I indicate briefly the key issues it seeks to raise in its
30 pages. To avoid sending an attachment and also the puzzling symbols
which I still receive in many emails, I am avoiding italics, brackets and
quotation marks as much as possible. But please note that what follows is
largely a plagiarism of the official document.
The latest official poverty figures were released on the DWP website on
April 11. The Institute of Fiscal Studies has a 43-page discussion of them,
and the reasons that the fall in the numbers below 60 per cent of median
household income, adjusted for household size, was smaller than had been
predicted inside and outside government, at www.ifs.org.uk - The
Government's Child Poverty Target: How much progress has been made?
I would be most grateful if you could send me a copy of any response to the
consultation document which you do make.
Adrian Sinfield <[log in to unmask]> 3 May 2002.
Measuring Child Poverty: A Consultation Document was released by the
Department for Work and Pensions, DWP, mid-April. The deadline for
responding is 10 July.
Copies of the document, and the response form with six specific questions,
can be found at www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2002. The form can be returned
electronically to [log in to unmask] or to
The Child Poverty Measurement Consultation Team,
Department for Work and Pensions,
Room 521, The Adelphi,
1-11 John Adam Street,
London WC2 6HT.
Hard copies can be obtained free from 0044 (0)208 867 3201 or fax 0044
(0)208 813 6564 - and this week the 'Welfare Reform Hotline' were willing to
send up to a maximum of five copies to any address worldwide. It can also
provide free summaries of the DWP's annual Opportunities for All reports
referred to below which set out the poverty and social exclusion indicators
currently in official use.
The key questions posed are:
1. What aspects of child poverty should be captured in a long-term measure?
2. Do you agree with the criteria for selecting a good indicator set out in
paragraphs 36-38?
3. What do you think is the best summary or headline measure to track
long-term progress of child poverty?
The next two questions ask for responses to the four options discussed in
the document.
Option One, paras 45-50 - multi-dimensional headline indicators - builds on
the DWP's own annual reports, Opportunities for All, on tackling poverty and
social exclusion. The second report highlighted five headline indicators of
low income; worklessness, not unemployment alone but also economic
inactivity among those of working age; educational attainment; health
inequalities; and housing standards. The work of Atkinson and colleagues on
Indicators for Social Inclusion in the European Union is also discussed here
and elsewhere.
Option Two, paras 51-57 - a child poverty index - might be comparable to the
Human Development Index of the UN Development Programme.
Option Three, paras 58-70 - a headline measure of 'consistent poverty' -
would combine relative low income and material deprivation. The discussion
refers to Townsend's Poverty in the UK, Mack and Lansley's Breadline Britain
surveys; the more recent Poverty and Social Exclusion surveys by Townsend,
Gordon and Bradshaw published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation,
www.jrf.org.uk; the Policy Studies Institute's Families and Children Survey.
It also refers to the work in Ireland by Nolan, Whelan and colleagues at
Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, discussed earlier, para 34, on
measures of 'consistent poverty'. The Irish Government has used their work
to develop its official headline poverty target and deprivation indicators.
Option Four, paras 71-75 - a core set of indicators of low income and
'consistent poverty' - would use a 'consistent poverty' measure with a core
set of indicators outlined in Option One.
The sixth and final question on the response form relates to geographical
coverage, both small-area and the different Devolved Administrations of
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
> From: Paul Spicker <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Paul Spicker <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 14:17:44 +0100
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Poverty measurement consultation
>
> The Department of Work and Pensions has issued a consultation document at
>
> http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/consult/2002/childpov/index.htm
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