AM calls for National Child Poverty Summit
4 March 2009
Plaid Cymru Child Poverty spokesperson, Bethan Jenkins AM, has today called on the Assembly Government to convene a national child poverty summit as part of its plans to abolish child poverty in Wales by 2020.
Ms Jenkins’ call follows an announcement yesterday by Social Justice Minister Brian Gibbons who unveiled the Assembly Government’s proposed Measure where child poverty targets will be set in legislation for the first time.
Latest figures (from 2006/07) show that 29 per cent of children in Wales live in poverty – slightly below the UK figure of 30%. Ms Jenkins believes that holding a national child poverty summit where government, stakeholders, charities and others can come together, would benefit the process of consulting on current proposals and provide more joined-up thinking on the issue.
Speaking today, Ms Jenkins said:
“The Minister’s announcement yesterday was groundbreaking- enshrining child poverty targets in law is a monumental step forward in the fight against child poverty and is also a reflection of the One Wales Government’s commitment to abolishing child poverty by 2020.
“As part of this legislative process, I feel the convening of a national child poverty summit – with a similar format to recent economic summits – would be invaluable to the process, and keep the issue of child poverty at the heart of the social justice agenda of this government. It could be a forum for sharing ideas and making representations to the government directly.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The Welsh Assembly Government’s Proposed Children and Families (Wales) Measure
The proposed Measure includes:
Enshrining children’s rights in law
A legal duty on ministers to devise an anti-poverty strategy and to review it every three years
Public bodies under Assembly Government control will have to take action to combat child poverty
Child Poverty Statistics Wales
Child poverty can be measured in a number of ways. These can include indicators based around income, such as estimates of the number of children living in low income households, or indicators based on other manifestations of poverty, such as child dental health.
The most widely used measure of child poverty is the proportion of children living in households with less than 60% average income. In 2006/07, 29% of children in Wales were in this group, compared to 30% of children across the UK.
In 2007, 17% of primary school pupils and 15% of secondary school pupils were entitled to free school meals. Local authorities with the highest proportions of free school meal entitlement tend to be located in the Valleys.
Between 2003 and 2007, the overall number of registered child care places in Wales increased.
Five year olds in Wales have, on average, 2.4 decayed, missing or filled teeth. Blaenau Gwent had the highest average number of decayed, missing or filled teeth.
Pupils’ attainment at Key Stages 2 and 3 has fallen slightly over recent years, but attainment at Key Stage 4 has improved.
The number of 16-18 year olds in education, employment or training has improved each year since 2003.
The proportion of working age adults with qualifications at NVQ levels 2, 3 or 4+ has increased each year since 2001.
