02 November 2007
Anti-poverty campaigners this week expressed disappointment that the government's new Child Poverty Unit will not include Treasury officials, despite the department's role in achieving crucial welfare targets.
Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain announced on October 29 that he would establish a cross-departmental CPU to get the government back on track to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.
The new unit will begin work later this month and consist of around 16 officials co-ordinating the government's child poverty strategy and research. Most will come from the departments for Children, Schools and Families, which will house the officials, and Work and Pensions. Hain said the establishment of the CPU reflected the fact that no single department could eradicate poverty.
Progress against child poverty targets has slowed since 2006 and the 2010 target will be missed unless the government can lift a further 900,000 children above the 'relative poverty' threshold.
But although Treasury officials will advise the CPU on ways to achieve that within restricted budgets, officials from Horse Guards Road will not be employed at the unit.
This is in spite of the Treasury's role in co-ordinating inter-departmental Public Service Agreements on child poverty, which are influenced by funding decisions at the department.
Similarly, Revenue & Customs officials will not be employed at the CPU, despite their role in distributing poverty-reducing tax credits.
Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said: 'We understand that there will be no Treasury officials within the unit. This is a concern as the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that around £4bn annual investment is needed to meet the 2010 target. Investment will do much more to restore public trust in the government's commitment.'
However, Green and other experts said that the CPU was a step in the right direction. Carey Oppenheim, chair of the London Child Poverty Commission, said the CPU 'should bring about a more co-ordinated approach' by the government.
But she warned that the unit must focus on tackling increasing poverty rates in the capital.
PFnov2007
