November 6, 2006
A good report
Some people have a tendency to groan when they hear the Government’s commissioned another report into another issue. But these reports perform a vital function. Government doesn’t have all the answers and listening to experts who come at an issue from a different perspective benefits us alI.
A prime example of how a report can provide that all-important injection of fresh ideas is our approach to child poverty.
Back in June we appointed Lisa Harker as an independent adviser to DWP. I chose Lisa because her experience working on issues related to poverty, family and social exclusion is second-to-none. Her task was to look at how we could improve our approach to tackling child poverty.
Lisa’s report was published last Wednesday (1 November). It contains many positives such as our success in ensuring there are now 700,000 fewer children living in poor households compared to 1998 and reducing child poverty to a 15-year low. But it also shows we need to do more to develop services that support all types of family in order to eradicate child poverty by 2020. For example, since this blog started I’ve received comments from some parents who want us to do more.
Lisa’s report focuses on:
• Family
• Skills
• Second earners
We now need to look at all of Lisa’s 31 rcommendations. You can read Lisa’s report Delivering on Child Poverty: What would it take? here. I’d like to hear what you think of it.
This entry was posted on Monday, 6 November 2006 at 11:48 AM by Jim Murphy.
posted in General, Child Poverty.
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