23 August 2012
Action Plan won’t deliver for Children
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has dismissed the government’s Children Results Action Plan to support vulnerable
children as a public relations exercise. While improving specific aspects of children’s health and access to early
childhood education are good in themselves, the report fails to grapple in any meaningful way with the drivers of poor
outcomes. “Despite saying they are doing something about child poverty, the government seems reluctant to stump up any
new spending to deal with this social blight. Instead, the badly designed Working for Families and the gradual erosion
of social spending have made living conditions for many children worse since the onset of the recession.
“It is disingenuous to repackage targets set for the public service which were announced back in July, as an Action Plan
for Children. A comprehensive action plan needs to address underlying issues of poverty and disadvantage, not tinker
with a few outcomes such as reducing rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is a disease of poverty, and occurs when children
live in poor quality housing. We need to be looking at housing issues and access to health services, not hoping it will
go away with throat swabs and raising community awareness. A comprehensive plan would also incorporate all sectors and
look at integrating them so that they deliver quality services to all children, with a goal of improving incomes and
reducing social inequalities. These targets do not do this.”
CPAG says the government needs to rethink its strategy along the lines of the report from Every Child Counts, which
calls for greater spending on children and the provision of universal services as the cheapest and most effective way
for all children to get the services they need. Treating all low income children as equally worthy of the same weekly
income support through Working for Families is one obvious place to start.
“In his extensive report on reducing health inequalities, Sir Michael Marmot argued that targeted services do not reduce
inequalities. The most effective services are universally provided, with greater resources going to the worst off. For
any action plan to have a real and sustained effect on improving outcomes for children, household income and housing
must be addressed. Anything else is just putting the problem to one side.”
ENDS