I am pleased to be at this London Councils Child Poverty Summit and to be part of a panel with Sherine and representatives from every tier of Government.  

Because ending child poverty; unlocking the talents of London’s residents; and transforming the capital’s most troubled neighbourhoods will require enduring partnerships and unwavering commitment.  

Of course local government anti-poverty strategies are not new phenomena. Over 100 were established as a response to mass unemployment and widening inequality in the 1980s and early 1990s. But I would propose, taking into account the current economic downturn, that we now have far greater opportunities to improve people’s lives and life chances.

  • Firstly central and local government anti-poverty work can unite behind shared priorities: that every child deserves the best start and that we should free latent aspirations and unfulfilled potential. The last decade has seen substantial progress: fairer incomes, investment in public infrastructure, inequality narrowed and social mobility kickstarted.     
  • Secondly our community well-being and economic development powers and the new emphasis on sub-regional working via MAAs make local authorities key players in tackling disadvantage and extending opportunity.  
  • And finally in the last year we have seen a welcome focus on the local dimension to tackling poverty incorporating the Child Poverty Pledge, LAA Indicator, DCSF Local Government Pilots, Beacon Award and Child Poverty Action Group Toolkit.

So we have an excellent opportunity. But there are also huge challenges.  

In Waltham Forest there are just under 16,000 children growing up in poverty; defined as the number of children who live in families in receipt of out of work benefits. Local pupils eligible for Free School Meals are much less likely to get 5 good GCSEs than their peers. 21,710 working-age adults are not in employment. 32% of residents do not have Level 2 skills.

And, like so many areas, we are vulnerable to the economic downturn. Our claimant count has risen from 5 330 in May this year to 5 950 last month; our economy is mostly built on small and very small firms; our growth sectors of retail and leisure are closely tied to disposable incomes; high levels of deprivation mean we are predisposed to problems around personal debt.   

However we are determined to take action: standing up for Waltham Forest’s poorest and most vulnerable residents and shielding our borough from the worst effects of the economic downturn.

Firstly, in partnership with Central Government, we are undertaking an unprecedented renewal of our public infrastructure. Waltham Forest was the first London Borough to start the complete rebuilding of our secondary schools and the first to open a Children’s Centre in every community. These are more than capital projects. They are the building blocks of ambition and achievement.  

And over the last five years we have invested £3.8 million to improve parks and open spaces because people need space for leisure and to step away from their daily pressures - small things making a big difference in the war against poverty, stress and mental illness.

Secondly we are working to help people access jobs and skills. Waltham Forest’s WorkNet Programme has established Single Points of Access, offering jobs and skills brokerage plus benefits assessments and financial advice, in Children’s centres; FE Colleges; One Stop Advice shops; and Housing Associations. Moreover our proposals for an Olympic Boroughs Multi-Area Agreement will make employability and skills key 2012 legacy issues.

And we are using our capacity as a major employer to help create jobs, opportunities and a skilled population. On the demand side our procurement contracts and spending will boost local employment. In terms of supply we have signed the Skills Pledge and will be re-directing training budgets to ensure our low-skilled staff can achieve Level 2 qualifications.

Thirdly as a local authority we are keen to join the dots of national policies and to coordinate effective outreach services for our poorest residents. We will not tackle poverty if services operate in silos or if we wait for residents to approach us for assistance - a lesson for local, regional and national government.

To this end we are piloting a number of innovative approaches - including using our birth registration service, health visitor programme and home-school visits to deliver benefits advice and jobs and skills support and to promote Council services.   

Fourthly we are encouraging our young people to aspire and achieve. As part of our Child Poverty Plan we are expanding Aim Higher provision to secondary schools and instituting closer working with elite higher education institutions so as to broaden horizons and entrench high expectations. We are consulting with Care Leavers on their experiences to improve support and opportunities for the next generation.

And finally we will continue to support families.

We are using planning powers to prevent houses being converted into flats and further eroding our base of family homes. We have begun work with the School Food Trust to market and increase the take-up of school meals. We will help our most disadvantaged families to access Children’s Centres and put the services they need at the heart of provision. We will ensure our employment and skills programmes identify those with children and link seamlessly to childcare and family services.

So this is a huge challenge - the biggest test of the new LSP arrangements and the leadership of place we have yet faced.

The economy is facing challenging times but we know if we can get through the downturn there remain unprecedented economic opportunities for our borough - for example regeneration from the Olympics and markets to exploit in the Thames-Gateway and Stansted-Cambridge growth areas.

Life is tough for many of our residents but we know it is within our capacity to make things a bit easier.

Some of my residents have never fulfilled their ambitions but we still have time to help them try.

By ensuring that ending child poverty and extending prosperity are our priorities, we can achieve all these things and who better to lead this than local authorities.