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It was moved by Councillor Nikki Sharpe,
seconded by Councillor Gill Furniss, that this
Council:
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(a) is
aware that there are approximately 3.6 million children living in
poverty in the UK today and the Government is not doing enough to
tackle the problem and proposed new legislation announced by the
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (the Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan
Smith MP) which limits benefits to two children threatens to make
the situation much worse;
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(b)
regrets that there are even more serious concentrations of child
poverty at a local level: in 100 local wards, for example, between
50 and 70 per cent of children are growing up in poverty, 23%
of children in Sheffield live in poverty, there are significant
variations with numbers at 36% and 37% for Brightside and Central
compared to just 5% in Hallam and 11% in Hillsborough;
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(c) believes that,
despite Government rhetoric, work does not provide a guaranteed
route out of poverty in the UK, noting that almost two-thirds (62
per cent) of children growing up in poverty live in a household
where at least one family member works;
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(d)
acknowledges that people are poor for many reasons, however,
believes this Government’s explanations which put poverty
down to drug and alcohol dependency, family breakdown, poor
parenting, or a culture of worklessness, are not supported by the
facts;
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(e)
also regrets that child poverty blights childhoods and has long
lasting effects, noting that by age 16, children receiving free
school meals achieve 1.7 grades lower at GCSE than their wealthier
peers, and that
leaving school with fewer qualifications translates into lower
earnings over the course of working life;
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(f) is
concerned that child poverty is also related to more complicated
health histories over the course of a lifetime, again influencing
earnings as well as the overall quality and indeed length of life,
noting that professionals live, on average, eight years longer
than unskilled workers;
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(g) is
aware that child poverty imposes costs on broader society –
estimated to be at least £25 billion a year, but believes
that
savings could be made if the Government tackles the problem
now;
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(h) acknowledges
that child poverty reduced dramatically between 1998/9-2010/11 when
1.1 million children were lifted out of poverty (before housing
costs) and that
this reduction is credited in large part to measures by the
previous Government that increased the levels of lone parents
working, as well as real and often significant increases in the
level of benefits paid to families with children;
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(i) is
concerned that according to the charity Child Poverty UK, under
current Government policies, child poverty is projected to rise
from 2012/13 with an expected 300,000 more children living in
poverty by 2015/16, and that
this upward trend is expected to continue with 4.2 million
children projected to be living in poverty by 2020;
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(j) is
saddened that this Government has failed to acknowledge that what
happens outside schools has a huge impact on children's ability to
do well within them, noting that since the Coalition Government
took office, out-of-school support for children has taken
above-average cuts through the early intervention grant and local
authority budget settlements, youth services have shrunk or
disappeared, and financial support for low-income families has
diminished, and that it is hardly surprising, then, that child
poverty is projected to rise and frontline workers are under more
pressure; and
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(k) urges this Government to tackle child poverty in the
UK to give every child a fair and equal chance in life.
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Whereupon, it was moved by
Councillor Penny Baker, seconded by Councillor Rob Frost, as an
amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by:-
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1. the
deletion of all the words after the words “today” in
paragraph (a);
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2. the
deletion of paragraphs (b) to (d) and (g) to (k) and the
relettering of paragraphs (e) and (f)
as new paragraphs (b) and (c); and
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3. the
addition of new paragraphs (d) to (g) as follows:-
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(d)
regrets the gap between the richest and the poorest rose during the
thirteen years of the previous Government and that the previous
Government failed to meet its target by hundreds of thousands of
children;
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(e)
therefore welcomes the commitment within the Coalition Agreement to
maintaining the goal of eradicating child poverty by
2020;
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(f) notes
that last year, according to current indicators, the number of
children living in poverty in the UK actually fell by 300,000;
and
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(g)
applauds the work of Liberal Democrats in Government to support
children living in poverty, including:
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(i) funding
to provide 15 hours of free childcare per week to disadvantaged 2
year olds;
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(ii) the pupil
premium, which has seen £11.4 million invested into Sheffield
schools this academic year, a figure which will continue to grow
year-on-year;
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(iii)
the successful Summer Schools, and a further £100m to repeat
the programme in 2013 and 2014; and
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(iv)
an additional £50 million a year to
provide extra tuition to 11-year-olds who are struggling with poor
maths and reading skills.
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On being put to the vote, the amendment was
negatived.
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The original Motion was then put to the vote and
carried, as follows:-
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