1 Make Poverty History

Last week, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) launched a major anti-poverty policy initiative called ‘Working for Children’ http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2007/childpoverty/childpoverty.pdf . This builds on the announcements made in the Budget to take a further 200,000 children out of poverty by increasing tax credits and providing wider support for parents. 'Working for Children' refocuses £150 million of resources within the Department for Work and Pensions towards greater support for families.
The proposals include:
Piloting a 'New Deal for Families' approach so more families get access to support that is often only available for lone parents. This will include extending the support available in the New Deal for Lone Parents Plus pilot areas to all families with children in those areas.
Extending the New Deal for Lone Parents Plus scheme and increasing obligations on lone parents with older children to look for work. This proposal dominated news media discussion, which focused on the appropriateness of encouraging single parents to seek work once their youngest child reaches 12.
Providing more support to families, particularly in London, by including widening and improving the in-work credit scheme which provides additional financial support for lone parents as they make the transition to work.
Providing advice and support for the partners of parents claiming Jobseekers Allowance, with the introduction of mandatory six-monthly work-focused interviews for this group.

These proposals build on the analysis of poverty carried out last year by Lisa Harker in her report for the DWP called, “Delivering on Child Poverty: what it would take” http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm69/6951/6951.pdf and the more recent, Freud Report, “Reducing dependency, increasing opportunity; options for the future of welfare to work.” http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2007/welfarereview.pdf .

The government remains convinced that getting people into work is their best route out of poverty. This week, I’ve heard numerous government ministers reaffirm their commitment to halving child poverty by 2010. If you want to understand the government’s strategy, I’d say read Harker, Freud and ‘Working for Children’ and you will know as much as anyone.

2 Child’s Play

“Toddlers who spend three or more days a week in nursery are more likely to become anti-social, worried and upset, government research has found” was just one of the bylines generated last week by a report reviewing nursery care. Research into the effects of non-parental child care seems to fire more furious debate than any other issue in the UK today http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6525039.stm . The full report can be found at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/SSU2007FR020.pdf

Be aware, these people have a track record of being critical of nursery care http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4304528.stm . This report fed straight into middle England’s fear that society is falling apart because of bad child rearing practices. For example, see the great picture and story in the Express http://www.express.co.uk/news/view/3636 . I felt that the Guardian article by Madeline Bunting tried to discuss the results more profitably http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/comment/0,,2049652,00.html

I also think it’s worth perusing the unprecedented 40 pages of reader comments that followed this article. It illustrates both the range of views and intensity of feelings that this issue generates. Personally, I don’t like the argument that if children become a bit more pushy and thick-skinned by the experience of nursery then that is no bad thing in the modern world. That is not an attractive vision.

3 Vital Statistics

Social Trends is an unrivalled source of UK social facts. It is produced every year by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) but the analytical focus of the publication is altered for each edition. This year’s study is especially relevant to The Brightside Trust, as its focus is ‘The changing lives of today’s children’. In what I regard as a genuine example of democratic, open government, the report can be viewed and/or downloaded from the ONS website for free. Hardcopy versions are available at £45; it must have been tempting to charge for the electronic version as well. For a quick summary see the press release http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/st0407.pdf

What seemed to catch news agencies attention was the increase in the numbers of young people, especially men, living at home with their parents for longer http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/04/12/do1203.xml&DCMP=EMC-new_12042007 . There are rumours of an extreme form of this phenomena emerging in the Berkhamstead area. The publication of Social Trends is also a time to reflect on known, but significant, medium term developments, such as in this article from BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6542031.stm

Something that caught my attention was public attitudes to vocational education

Table 3.17 page 36

Attitudes to vocational qualifications,¹ 2005

Great Britain			Percentages
	Agree2	Neither agree nor disagree	Disagree3
Only people who can’t do academic qualifications should do vocational ones	20	17	63
Vocational qualifications are easier than academic qualifications	29	24	47
Most people don’t understand what vocational qualifications are	60	21	20
Employers don’t respect vocational qualifications enough	54	24	21
Schools should do more to encourage young people to do vocational qualifications	74	19	7

Taking these attitudes to vocational qualifications together, it would appear that the British people are very positive about vocational education and qualifications. It seems to me, that this popular mood could be fertile ground for the new diploma courses if they are rigorously promoted.

Overall, Social Trends is a dense catalogue of 225 glorious pages of facts about UK society.

There are too many headings to do it justice here, why not take a look at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_social/Social_Trends37/Social_Trends_37.pdf . If ever you need a social fact about the UK, visit this document first. I am placing a copy in the library; it deserves a box of its own.

4 The Panopticon

Article from the Guardian about training centres for problem families http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2054827,00.html . Retraining centres for ‘neighbours from hell’ are slowly being established all across the country. This phenomenon has largely gone unnoticed and undiscussed, but like ASBOs, will soon become part of the landscape for disadvantaged communities around the country. The linking of family retraining to them retaining their housing tenancy is punitive, but maybe that is the level of leverage required. Will it work? What would work mean? – any views?

5 The Prince and the Paupers

Last week saw the launch of a major report into youth disadvantage and social exclusion by the Prince’s Trust, entitled ‘The cost of exclusion’ http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/main%20site%20v2/downloads/Cost%20of%20Exclusion%20apr07.pdf . The authors have gone out of their way to calculate the loss to the economy and the extra costs to society when people opt out of the workforce and behave in antisocial ways. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/10/nyouth10.xml . In truth, I found this report something of a disappointment, as I’m not sure these calculations add much to the debate. Yes, it would be good if these people were active contributors to society, but they’re not, and all the evidence suggests that simply offering them a ‘hand up’, a break, isn’t enough. Some of these people are a real pain in the arse if you are unlucky enough to live near them. This report left me asking ‘but what is to be done?’ However, if you want the most recent and authoritative analysis of youth disadvantage then this is the place to go.