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21 March 2005 - Raising our game on child poverty - Alan Johnson

Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions will today reaffirm the Government's commitment to raise its game further in the fight to tackle child poverty and he will urge others to do likewise.

Speaking at a conference hosted by Save the Children, Mr Johnson accepted that the drive to eradicate child poverty by 2020 is one of the most demanding targets that any Government has ever set but one that he intends to emphasise on every occasion.

Mr Johnson said:

"It's time to start shouting from the rooftops about what we are doing and the challenge that's ahead of us. Over a period of 20 years the proportion of children in relative low income households has more than doubled and by 1997, one in every three babies in Britain were born into a low income household."

"Many people find it difficult to imagine that anyone in Britain in the 21st century could be living in poverty. And worse still they read stories in the press about people squandering their benefits on alcohol and cigarettes which only fuels insulting myths such as 'parents living in poverty will squander extra money rather than spend it on their children'."

"It's time to dispel these myths and it's time to raise our game on tackling child poverty. I am proud of our progress so far and proud of UNICEF's recent praise and acknowledgment that this Government has 'pioneered an approach to monitoring and reduction of child poverty that seems to be working'. But that is no accident. As a result of reforms introduced to the tax and benefit system since 1997, from April this year families with children will be, on average £1400 better off in real terms with the poorest fifth £3,200 better off."

Save the Children Director General Mike Aaronson said:

"This will be an important conference at which we can review the excellent progress made so far, and challenge the government to take radical action to tackle the most severe and persistent poverty among children in the UK."

A leaflet of key indicators which underpin the Government's measurement of progress in respect of children and young people will also published to coincide with the conference. There are 12 indicators which continue to demonstrate improvement from the baseline.

Notes for Editors

1. The 2004 Spending Review established a new Public Service Agreement (PSA) target, shared by the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Treasury, to “halve the number of children in relative low-income households between 1998-99 and 2010-11, on the way to eradicating child poverty by 2020.”

2. The target is to halve the number of children in relative low-income households between 1998-99 and 2010-11, on the way to eradicating child poverty by 2020. Relative low-income households are defined as those with income below 60 per cent of contemporary equivalised median income.

3. The Government will also set an additional target in the 2006 Spending Review to halve by 2010-11 the number of children suffering a combination of material deprivation and relative low income by comparison with their number in 1998-99. Material deprivation will be combined with a higher threshold for relative low-income, measured as incomes below 70 per cent of the contemporary median. This target will be met if, from 2004-05 to 2010-11 there is an equivalent proportional reduction to that required on the relative low-income target from 2004-05 to 2010-11.

4. The Government will also monitor progress against an absolute low income indicator. Absolute low-income households are defined as those with incomes below 60 per cent of median income held constant in real terms from a 1998-99 baseline. The target for absolute low income will be to make further progress so that there are fewer than 1 million children in absolute low income by 2010-11.

5. The SR2002 target was to reduce the number of children in low-income households by at least a quarter by 2004-05, as a contribution towards the broader target of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020. The SR2002 target was in turn preceded by a target announced in SR2000, to make substantial progress towards eradicating child poverty by reducing the number of children in poverty by at least a quarter by 2004-05. This was the first time an explicit target had been set for reducing child poverty.

6. Good progress has been made in arresting and reversing the long-term trend of rising child poverty. Between 1998-99 and 2002-03 (the latest data available) the number of children in relative low-income households fell:

7. Progress against a range of poverty and social exclusion indicators linked to child poverty, including low income, worklessness, health, education and housing, can be found in the Government's sixth annual Opportunity for all report.

8. Research based on the Family Expenditure Survey by Paul Gregg, Jane Waldfogel and Elizabeth Washbrook shows clearly that when low income families receive extra money they have spent this disproportionately on items for their children. They do not spend more money on alcohol, tobacco or housing.

9. Last week's Budget announced a series of measures which will contribute to tackling child poverty and improving poor children's life chances, including:

10. Tackling Child Poverty: Raising the Game - child poverty conference is to be held on 21 March 2005 and hosted by Save the Children. The venue is the Royal Horticultural Halls and Paul Ennals CBE, Chief Executive of the National Children's Bureau will act as chair. The speakers include:


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