Community and Voluntary News January/February 2008

• The Institute for Public Policy Research has published a report claiming that six in ten poor households in the UK have someone in work, up ten percentage points on a decade ago. The report says that whilst work is the surest route out of poverty, it is far from an inevitable one. The report urges the government to improve wages at the bottom of the labour market. For more information see working out of poverty on our publications website.
  
• Think tank The Work Foundation has published a report looking into the knowledge economy, claiming that the old North-South divide no longer stands, but that a more subtle analysis of the cities is needed. The report also claims that public sector investment is vital in knowledge intensive employment. For more information see Cities and the Role of the Public Sector in the Knowledge Economy on our publications section.
  
• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a report claiming that discrimination on the grounds of poverty is a common but relatively unacknowledged feature of life in the UK. The report recommends that the government adopt the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into UK law,  which would include economic, social and cultural rights in the discrimination laws. For more details see www.jrf.org.uk
  
• The government plans to invest £30million over the next three years to help low income families from disadvantaged areas have access to technology at home. The fund aims to help families buy computers and connect to the internet to help with their children’s school work. Visit www.dcsf.gov.uk for more details.
  
• Think tank Progress has published a report looking at ways of improving people’s chances of becoming socially mobile. One of the ideas put forward is to expand the Child Trust Fund and to make the fund accessible for training. The report also warns that the SureStart scheme is in danger of becoming just state childcare rather than a holistic approach to help children get a good start in life. For more information see Think Tank Report 2008 on our publications section.
  
• Think tank NFP Synergy has published a report on volunteering which claims that levels of volunteering have remained static since 2004 despite substantial investment from the government. The traditional groups who volunteer, the 55-64 year olds have shown a decline in numbers, but groups not targeted by government investment, the 25-34 year olds, have increased faster than other groups. The report concludes that “at the moment substantial amounts of public money are being spent on volunteering, with little evidence of successful returns on that investment through increased volunteering”. For more information see Who Volunteers? Volunteering Trends 2000 to 2007 on our publications section.