Childcare and Education News May 2008

• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a report claiming that child poverty could rise to a new high because of the difference between increases in income and increases in benefits and tax. Most benefits and tax credits only rise in line with inflation and therefore fall behind increases in average incomes. The author of the report said “this is one of the biggest decisions in British politics every year, but remains little discussed. Adjusting many benefits in line with prices rather than household incomes in general has had and will continue to have a growing detrimental impact on the worst-off people”.
  
• The Greater London Enterprise will lead a new network to tackle child poverty across the EU. The European Cities Against Child Poverty will involve local and regional regeneration stakeholders from the cities of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Budapest, Helsinki, London, Milan, Sollentuna, Solna, Uppsala and Vasteras. The network will take a holistic approach to analysing factors affecting child poverty, considering how to break cycles of deprivation, how to improve employment and training for parents, and the impact of homelessness and poor housing conditions on the health and education of children. For more details see Launching the European Cities Against Child Poverty Network on our publications section.
  
• Youth crime charities Rainer and Crime Concern are to join together to form a major new charity. Its combined mission will be to promote opportunities for the development, education and support of young people in need. For more details see Rainer to Merge with Crime Concern on our publications section.
  
• Think tank policy exchange has published a report on childcare. The main recommendations are to scrap existing benefits and pay £50-60 a week per child direct to parents. This, the report argues, will give genuine choice over whether to work or not, and allow parents to use less formal childcare such as grandparents. The allowance would be instead of  Surestart provisions, early years entitlements, working tax credit and childcare vouchers. For more information see Think Tank Report on Childcare on our website.
  
• The Confederation of British Industry has published the results of an education and skills survey of 735 firms. It found that 53% of employers lack confidence in their ability to fund enough people with the right skills for business, and two fifths have concerns about basic literacy and numeracy skills. The CBI’s deputy director John Cridland said “A worrying number of employers have little confidence that they will be able to plug their skills gap. In our new stocktake of the nations skills, too many firms also say poor basic skills are hampering customer service and acting as a drag on their business performance” For more details visit the CBI/Edexcel Education And Skills Survey 2008 on our publications section.