The Welsh Assembly Government is consulting on a fresh strategy to tackle child poverty.
It involves redirecting funding and developing local partnerships to co-ordinate initiatives on unemployment, education, health, housing and
parenting.
Launching a consultation on the strategy on May 12, First Minister Carwyn Jones said: ‘We recognise the crucial importance of work for parents as the most sustainable route out of poverty; the need to combat rising levels of poverty in families where there is someone in work, through better training and quality jobs; and, of course, the need to reduce the gap between the outcomes of our poorest children and their more affluent peers.’
The new approach will be partly funded through the £148m Children and Youth Support Fund (Cymorth), previously part of the spending grant to local government. But this has caused concern among council leaders.
The Welsh Local Government Association called for local authorities ‘to be told as early as possible’ about changes to the Cymorth fund, which it claimed was already ‘fully utilised and in most cases provides preventative services aimed at children living in deprived areas’.
In 2007/08, 32% of children in Wales lived in households with an income that was less than 60% of the average, after housing costs. This compares with 30% across the UK.
Conservative education spokesman Paul Davies AM said the consultation was a ‘clear admission by the Labour-Plaid government that previous efforts to tackle child poverty have failed’.
It involves redirecting funding and developing local partnerships to co-ordinate initiatives on unemployment, education, health, housing and
parenting.
Launching a consultation on the strategy on May 12, First Minister Carwyn Jones said: ‘We recognise the crucial importance of work for parents as the most sustainable route out of poverty; the need to combat rising levels of poverty in families where there is someone in work, through better training and quality jobs; and, of course, the need to reduce the gap between the outcomes of our poorest children and their more affluent peers.’
The new approach will be partly funded through the £148m Children and Youth Support Fund (Cymorth), previously part of the spending grant to local government. But this has caused concern among council leaders.
The Welsh Local Government Association called for local authorities ‘to be told as early as possible’ about changes to the Cymorth fund, which it claimed was already ‘fully utilised and in most cases provides preventative services aimed at children living in deprived areas’.
In 2007/08, 32% of children in Wales lived in households with an income that was less than 60% of the average, after housing costs. This compares with 30% across the UK.
Conservative education spokesman Paul Davies AM said the consultation was a ‘clear admission by the Labour-Plaid government that previous efforts to tackle child poverty have failed’.
