The new Households Below Average Incomes (HBAI) is now available for free
download at:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbai/hbai2002/contents.html
It shows a reduction in the number of individuals in 'poverty' (below 60pc of
median household income after housing costs, adjusted for household size)
from 13.2m in 1994/5 to 12.9m in 2000/01. The number of children so defined
is 3.9m in 2000/01 against 4.0m in 1994/5.
There has been a 2 percentage point reduction in the number of children below
the threshold since Labour came to power -- still way below Gordon Brown's
rash statement in October 2000 that the WFTC had taken a million children out
of poverty.
Paul Ashton
[log in to unmask]
2003-03-13
|