Frank Field's poverty report challenges 'welfare state sacred cows' | Politics | The Guardian

Frank Field's poverty report challenges 'welfare state sacred cows'

Labour MP praised for welfare report, which proposes switch from focus on material income to set of life chance indicators

• • Share54
  • 
  • 
• Comments (105)

• Patrick Wintour Political editor
• The Guardian, Friday 3 December 2010
• Article history

The Labour MP Frank Field chaired the independent review into poverty and life chances. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

The biggest transformation of anti-poverty programmes since the war – which will "require a testing of some of the 1940s welfare state's sacred cows" – is today proposed by Frank Field in a report commissioned by David Cameron.

Field, a Labour MP and a long-term anti-poverty campaigner, proposes the government switches focus from Labour's anti-poverty measure, based on material income, to a set of life chance indicators.

He writes: "Poverty is a much more subtle enemy than purely lack of money," adding he does not believe poverty is the dominant reason why disadvantage is handed down from one generation to another. Parenting was more important than income or schooling to a child's life chances.

The findings will be strongly supported by the Liberal Democrat policy team, as well as by Oliver Letwin, the Conservatives's chief policy thinker.

Cameron and Nick Clegg, in a joint letter to Field, praised the report as "a vital moment in the history of our efforts to tackle poverty and disadvantage".

Field also suggests ministers should consider annually whether to withhold above-inflation increases in child tax credits and instead plough the money into early years education.

He also suggests private companies should be given the chance to bid for Sure Start, the programme to deliver the best start in life for every child.

He says poor families get the worst deal from public services and there is no realistic prospect of meeting Labour's commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020, which is measured as no one living 60% below the median income. The government has transferred £134bn to families since 1999 and the money was producing only modest results, a fall from 3.4m to 2.8m children in poverty.

He asserts: "A healthy pregnancy, positive but authoritative parenting, high quality childcare, a positive approach to learning at home and an improvement in parents' qualifications, can … trump class background and parental income."

Field argues: "By the age of three, a baby's brain is 80% formed, and his or her experiences before then shape the way the brain has grown and developed. That is not to say, of course, it is all over by then, but ability profiles at that age are highly predictive of profiles at school entry."

He argues there is little sign that schools close these attainment gaps, with children who arrive in the bottom range of ability tending to stay there. He proposes:

• parenting classes throughout school life, arguing that Britain believes parenting is learnt through osmosis;

• a new index of life chances that can be monitored annually;

• a focus on foundation years equal to primary and secondary schools;

• a rationalisation of children's services, including post-natal work, from the womb to going to school;

• a working-class version of Mumsnet, the online forum for parents;

• kite marking children's tv programmes to help speech development.

He says: "This goal of changing the distribution of income will be achieved by ensuring that poorer children in the future have the range of abilities necessary to secure better paid, higher skilled jobs."

via guardian.co.uk