Nursery World - Poverty pledge welcomed

Charities have welcomed the Government's pledge to give legal backing to its commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020, amid concern that it will not invest enough to halve it by 2010.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's commitment to back the anti-poverty fightwith legislation came in his keynote speech to last week's Labour Partyconference in Manchester. However, Barnardo's chief executive MartinNarey, who chairs the campaign to end child poverty, detected signs ofbacksliding. He said, 'I'm concerned that Gordon Brown's reference tothe "long haul" is an admission that Labour will not be making the finalinvestment necessary to meet the 2010 child poverty target.'

The Government has yet to clarify exactly what Mr Brown meant by makingmeeting the 2020 target a legal requirement. A DCSF spokesman said theGovernment was working with stakeholders on a strategy to meet the 2020deadline as well as 'a definition of eradication and how it can bemeasured'.

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