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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Assembly action alone not enough to eradicate child poverty
June 10, 2008 12:00 AM
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have today welcomed the Assembly Government's announcement to put child poverty at the top of the agenda for all public agencies in Wales but warn that the UK Government is key to lifting thousands of children out of poverty in Wales.
Peter Black, Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Social Justice said:
"I welcome the new measures proposed by the Assembly Government to tackle child poverty because the Welsh Liberal Democrats have been calling for this sort of statutory duty on public bodies for some time to fight this social injustice.
"However, the Assembly Government will find it difficult to reach their 2010 and 2020 targets unless they get the UK government on board providing the £3billion that the child poverty action groups are calling for and a revamp of the tax and family credit system so that people are encouraged to go back to work.
"The Assembly Government also needs to wake up to the reality that you can't impose duties on Local Government without the financial backing for them to be able to provide these kind of services.
"They need to give more money to Local Government when they impose duties as important as these on them."
Eleanor Burnham, Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Children and Young People said:
"Whilst I welcome this announcement by the Assembly Government to put child poverty at the top of the agenda, they have been warned many times by various campaign groups, political parties and experts -including the Children's Commissioner - that they are not going to achieve their 2010 target.
"Yesterday's figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that the number of children living in poverty across the UK has risen for the last two years running. We cannot let this social injustice continue.
"It is shocking that in Wales today 28% of children are living in desperate poverty. Every year we see that this problem is a continual concern for the Children's Commissioner because of the impact of poverty on the lives of people who live in this desperate situation. Children who live in these circumstances are more susceptible to health issues and are deprived of starting life on the right foot.
"I hope that the Assembly Government's plans will start the fight back against child poverty."
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