EDM 1872: support for London Underground cleaners

John McDonnell MP has put forward an EDM supporting the 700 London Underground cleaners, members of the RMT, who will going on strike tomorrow.

Purnell and latest poverty initiatives: it’s not enough!

James Purnell has announced a pilot package of measures to reduce child poverty which,  he claims, will provide practical solutions to overcome barriers to employment. They include:

A new Child Development Grant of around £200 available to low income parents with children under the age of five in 10 local authorities from early 2009; to move into work as well as providing tailored work-related support; help in children’s centres in Preston and Newham for parents to better understand and claim tax credits; enhanced work-focused services, to provide parents with training and work experience to boost their confidence, skills and support them to enter and progress in work in 30 children’s centres across 10 local authorities; extension of the London Childcare Affordability pilots and find new ways of making childcare more affordable for these families so that parents can enter work; grants of at least £20 million to local authorities to develop new and innovative approaches to tackle the causes and consequences of child poverty.

The pilots are to last two years and maybe extended to 3 years. Purnell says, The greatest cause of child poverty is worklessness among parents – a child in a household where no one works can be up to 7 times more at risk of living in poverty than a child in a working family.
These pilots will provide parents with the practical solutions they need to overcome the barriers that are stopping them for working and are central to helping us meet our target of eradicating child poverty completely by 2020.

What we also have to remember is that there will be an election in 18 months time and what will happen to these pilots will be anyone’s guess.

These initiatives are just primarily superficial and scratch the surface of poverty. If Purnell and NL were serious about their commitments then they should, amongst other demands, overhaul the Tax Credits system, implement universal free childcare as that is one of the obstacles faced by many unemployed parents; the lack of childcare.  And if NL seriously want to meet their targets regarding child poverty then, to reiterate, they need to implement progressive taxation.