Action on Child Poverty

One of the responsibilities I had in the 2005-2010 Parliament was in championing Child Poverty issues for my own party. In 2009 I sat on the Child Poverty Bill Committee - the type of committee which examines a bill line-by-line. As part of the committee we took evidence from charities involved in dealing with child poverty and also from local councils who are already undertaking a lot of work to break the cycle of deprivation for families in their areas.

 It is important that we do not focus only on the symptoms of poverty. We need to do more than use tax credits to shift people from just below the poverty line to just above. We need to tackle the long term causes of poverty such as children growing up in workless households, educational underachievement and family breakdown.

I believe that the existing system of support inherited from the previous Government, can trap the poorest families and children in welfare dependency. For many poor children, the current system of support delivers little practical change in their long term prospects. Many born into the very poorest families will typically spend their entire lives in poverty.

The Government asked Frank Field MP to lead an independent review on poverty. The Independent Review of Poverty and Life Chances focused on the early years, or 'Foundation Years'. I welcome this focus as the preschool years are the critical ones in terms of promoting a fairer and more mobile society.

The Government also welcomed the Report's recommendation that a new set of Life Chances Indicators should be adopted in recognition of the fact that we need to look at people's experiences of poverty in all its dimensions.

The Report makes clear that we also need to focus on people trapped in poverty, sometimes over generations. Poor children are at a high risk of becoming poor adults. Nobody should be condemned to poverty or constricted life chances because of the circumstances of their birth. That is why the Government has already made the promotion of intergenerational mobility the principal goal of its social policy.

The £2.5 billion Pupil Premium is directly targeted at schools to encourage them to take on pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Poverty in childhood should not mean poverty for life, and the Pupil Premium will help to ensure that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are given the best possible educational opportunities.

The charity Action for Children gave me the chance to make a tangible local contribution to the debate by marooning me and others on Temple Island in the Thames with only a mobile phone until we had personally raised over £1,000 each for the charity.

I was pleased to beat the target and together we raised over £6,000. This was a good example of a practical link between Westminster and what happens in the constituency. The amount we raised went towards helping the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK.

(Photo courtesy of Aeciss.com)

Back to all posts