AQW 11405/22-27

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 07/05/2024
Answered On Date: 30/05/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) the poverty statistics in the South Antrim constituency in the last five years; and (ii) what his Department is doing to reduce these figures.

Answer:

Official measures of absolute and relative poverty for NI are derived from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). Both measures can be presented on a before and after housing costs basis. Due to the uncertainty around estimates at lower levels, the Department does not present results for poverty at Parliamentary Constituency level.

I am focused on working with my Executive colleagues, and meeting with sectoral delivery partners and key stakeholders, to develop a sustainable, deliverable Anti-Poverty Strategy which addresses the issues that make a tangible difference to people’s lives.

I am currently considering the next steps to be taken in developing the Strategy and I am committed to delivering long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty in all its forms right across Northern Ireland.