Hughes challenges ministers on child poverty in Southwark

4.01.35pm GMT Thu 4th Feb 2010

In Parliament this week Simon Hughes seized the first opportunity to question ministers since alarming new figures were released showing that over 7 out of 10 children in parts of Southwark are in 'child poverty' according to official figures.

Simon's quizzed ministers in Department of Work and Pensions question time on Monday in the House of Commons;

15. Simon Hughes (North Southwark and Bermondsey) (LD): What recent estimate she has made of the proportion of children living in poverty in (a) the UK, (b) Greater London and (c) North Southwark and Bermondsey constituency. [314115]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Helen Goodman): The proportion of children in relative poverty in the UK for the period 2007-08 was 23 per cent. For the period 2005-06 to 2007-08 the figure for London as a whole was also 23 per cent. The figures for inner London and outer London were 27 per cent. and 20 per cent. respectively.

Simon Hughes: Given that London is the sixth richest city in the world, can the Minister tell the House why child poverty levels, which mean that one in every two children in inner London are in poverty according to Government official figures, have remained similar for the past 10 years of the Labour Government?

Helen Goodman: I thought that I had just explained that the figure was closer to one in four, but I agree with the hon. Gentleman's basic point that this is a major problem in London. A major reason for it is that parental employment is 8 per cent. lower than it is in the rest of the country. The London child poverty delivery group, which I chaired in the summer, is driving forward programmes on three key things: increasing the supply of part-time vacancies, increasing the take-up of tax credits and increasing the use of formal child care.

After hearing the minister's answer Simon Hughes said:

"The difference between the figures in the minister's answer and the figures produced a few weeks ago by Barnardo's is because one set of figures is calculated using housing costs and the other is not. The government does not however deny that in spite of setting a target to halve child poverty between 2000 and 2010, in Southwark the position is just about the same as 10 years ago. Coupled with last weeks report from the Equality Commission, set up by Harriet Harman, the sad truth is that in Southwark as elsewhere the gap between rich and poor has not fundamentally changed in spite of over 12 years of Labour government."