Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy report shows positive steps in place

9 Jul 2014 04:18 PM

Vaughan Gething, Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty, has welcomed yesterday’s publication of the Welsh Government’s Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy report. 

The Deputy Minister said:

“Tackling poverty is a key priority for the Welsh Government and the findings from today’s report will help to inform our long-term goals of eradicating child poverty in Wales.

We recognise the scale of the challenge ahead. The report published last week by the IFS – The distributional effects of the UK government’s tax and welfare reforms in Wales: an update – considered the impact of recent tax changes as well as welfare changes. 

“The IFS report said that even when tax and benefit changes are taken together they are still expected to result in a loss of around £720 million in Wales. The average weekly loss per household per week is around £11. The impacts of welfare reform are significant and will continue to hit the poorest people in Wales the hardest. 

“Tackling child poverty is at the heart of our Tackling Poverty Action Plan, and we have set specific targets for improving the health and educational outcomes of children and young people living in low income households.

“We are pleased that the evaluation of our Child Poverty Strategy concludes that ‘Positive steps have been put in place by the Welsh Government since 2010 to reduce Child Poverty in Wales, and policies are now in place to support the tackling poverty objectives across the Welsh Government.’”

Links

Child poverty strategy for Wales