Ministers meet key players across London to tackle child poverty

from E Gov Monitor

London's movers and shakers will meet Work and Pension's Minister Stephen Timms, and Minister for Children, Young People and Families Beverley Hughes today to set out key priorities for tackling child poverty in the capital.

The meeting is the first Ministerial Working Group, following the announcement in the 2008 Budget that Minister's would bring together key delivery agencies in London to work together to increase parental employment in the capital, help lift London children out of poverty and improve the prospects for London's children.

While good progress has been made nationally, child poverty in London has fallen by less than elsewhere in the UK. The child poverty rate in inner London remains at 35 per cent - substantially above the national average of 22 per cent. In 2005-06, 2.8 million children in the UK were living in poverty, including around 400,000 children in London - of which 200,000 live in inner London. Evidence shows that this is largely due to lower rates of parental employment in the capital.

Members of the working group, which include MPs, London Councils, delivery agencies, the Mayor's office, employers and experts from the voluntary sector will advise Ministers on how best to improve the co-ordination across organisations to support parents to enter, stay and progress in work in London. At the same time, Ministers will be reiterating the message that every organisation has an important role to play in tackling child poverty, and asking members of the group to commit to do more to work together to achieve this challenging goal.

Stephen Timms said:

"This setting up of the Working Group is significant for London. For the first time key agencies will come together to work on tackling child poverty in London and help to maximise opportunities for parents to enter, stay and progress in work - this will in turn improve the outcomes for parents, children and the communities they live in."

Over the Summer Ministers will ask the Group to investigate specific themes in more depth and make concrete recommendations about immediate action that can be taken to support parents into work in London, in order to improve their incomes, and the outcomes for their children.

Beverley Hughes said:

"We are committed to improving the lives of children and young people right across Britain and we are making substantial progress. The number of children living in poverty has fallen nationally by 600,000. However this success has not been reflected in the capital.

"Tackling child poverty in London presents us with a unique set of challenges and this Working Group will play a vital role in identifying what more can be done to get the capital's parents into sustainable, suitable jobs and out of poverty and in improving the wellbeing and future prospects of London's children."