JOINT MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE ON POVERTY

Actions to deliver policies for alleviating poverty in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were discussed today at a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee on Poverty.

Chaired by the Chancellor Gordon Brown the meeting focussed on addressing the gaps in three vital areas:

poverty
unemployment
Childcare.

The Chancellor said:

?Child poverty is a scourge on our society and eradicating it is a priority both for the Government and the devolved administrations. It represents a huge cost to individuals and communities across the UK.

?Today we discussed what more can be done so that we can meet the Government's target to cut child poverty by a quarter by 2004 and by half by 2010. By next April the Government will have raised spending on tackling child poverty and building family prosperity by £8 billion a year in real terms. The devolved administrations too are promoting anti-poverty strategies in devolved areas of responsibility.

?We had an excellent discussion on the gaps in policies and services in three vital areas of, poverty, unemployment and childcare. The Committee will take forward work to address policies and services in these three important areas to reduce child poverty across the UK.

?The Government has set the framework for tackling poverty and improving childcare through, for example, reforms to the tax and benefit system, especially the introduction of the Child and Working Tax Credits from April 2003. All four administrations across the UK are committed to tackling poverty and social exclusion. Yet all too often we measure our progress to those goals in different ways. Establishing a key set of indicators and, where relevant, a common approach is not an academic issue; it is the bedrock upon which different policy approaches can be tried and tested.

?Devolution brings new opportunities for the development of policies better suited to local needs across the UK. We need to learn what policies work best in tackling poverty and social exclusion. The Joint Ministerial Committee on Poverty is an ideal forum for sharing best practice and policy innovation among the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.?

The Joint Ministerial Committee on Poverty pledged to work together to:

Promote comparative analysis of poverty and social exclusion across the UK. A working group of officials will consider how some of the existing range of indicators and collection of statistics relating to poverty and social exclusion might be adjusted to enable better comparisons of outcomes between each of the four administrations. Officials are to report back to the next meeting of the Committee in January 2003.

Learn the lessons of how support for pre-school children in deprived neighbourhoods can be best developed. Officials will consider how the lessons of early years programmes like Sure Start can influence the provision of services to children more generally and report back to the Committee in June 2003.

Future meetings will consider the outcomes of the 2002 Spending Review across the UK, look at the emerging issues from the UK Government's ongoing consultation exercise on measuring child poverty, and see what lessons can be learnt on service delivery and so improve action on the ground.

Notes for Editors

1. The role of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) is set out in an annex to the Memorandum of Understanding which was agreed between the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in December 2001. The revised Memorandum of Understanding was presented to Parliament as Command Paper 5240. The text is available at http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/constitution/devolution/mou/mou.htm

2. The JMC meets in a number of functional forms. The Joint Ministerial Committee on Poverty terms of reference is:

?To consider joint or co-ordinated action by the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations to tackle poverty and social exclusion; and to facilitate exchanging information and best practice.?

3. This statement was agreed by all the participants at JMC Poverty meeting held in London on 18 September 2002. The JMC Poverty is chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The following also attended the meeting:

UK Government

Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Rt Hon Helen Liddell MP, Secretary of State for Scotland
Barbara Roche MP, Minister of State in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Baroness Ashton of Upholland, Minister for Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare

Scottish Executive

Andy Kerr MSP, Minister for Finance and Public Services
Margaret Curran MSP, Minister for Social Justice

Welsh Assembly Government

Rhodri Morgan AM, First Minister
Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Health and Social Services

Northern Ireland Executive

Mark Durkan MLA, Deputy First Minister, Northern Ireland Executive
James Leslie MLA, Junior Minister, Office of the First and Deputy First Minister

Press Notices July to December 2002