Deputy premier calls child poverty statistics ‘ropey’

Statistics used to measure child poverty are a “bit ropey”, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said yesterday as he joined criticism from senior Tories who want to change the way the data is collated.

Mr Clegg said the way the figures were calculated was “ludicrous” as it meant that if the Government spent more on pensioners, the number of children slipping below the poverty line would increase.

His comments followed criticism from Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who claimed the “hugely expensive” drive to lift children out of poverty by boosting family income had failed.

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Mr Duncan Smith said it was time to consider new measures of wellbeing which include factors like health, family security and education.

Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron said there was “a real problem” with the way poverty was officially measured, under which a child was deemed to be in poverty if its family was on 60 per cent or less of the median average income.

Yesterday, Mr Clegg said he was also unhappy with the way the statistics were collated.

Speaking to Dermot Murnaghan on Sky News, he said: “I don’t want to go in to the undergrowth of how these statistics are arrived at but the way they are calculated is a bit ropey.

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“The child poverty figure is one that is a relative one so it means, for instance, that if you help pensioners, as we are, we are delivering the biggest single increase in the state pension for many, many years, then actually statistically it means you are not helping children, which is a ludicrous thing to say.

“It doesn’t take in to account the many other things that we are doing that make a big difference.

“For instance, we have announced this week, something very close to my heart, that we are going to massively expand, double, up to 260,000 families, the number of young toddlers at the age of two who will get 15 hours of free child care for the first time ever.

“That doesn’t show up in statistics. Why is that important? Because we know if you give a toddler at the age of two and also three, four, five, where we are also delivering extra pre-school support, you really are giving them the best possible start in life.”

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The relative poverty measure is enshrined in Labour’s Child Poverty Act, which last year created a legally-binding requirement for the Government to end child poverty in the UK by 2020.

Some 2.8 million children live in poverty, according to official statistics and measures in the Autumn Statement are expected to increase that figure by 100,000.

The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said last week it was now “inconceivable” that the Government would hit its target.

Mr Clegg also said there were “constant choices” about where the Government cuts should fall as he insisted the Liberal Democrats were trying to protect the poorest families.