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New figures show progress on poverty and social exclusion

Signs that Government efforts to tackle social exclusion are finally beginning to work have been welcomed by public health campaigners.

Clear improvements in housing, education and health are revealed in the annual independent evaluation of poverty and social exclusion released by the New Policy Institute and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation before Christmas.

The results show that the number of measures which have improved far outweigh the number which have worsened for the first time since the annual study was launched four years ago. Of the 32 indicators tested, 24 showed improvement while eight showed decline. However, little or no progress is taking place in reducing income poverty.

The figures, which cover the years 2000-01, show fewer children are leaving school without basic qualifications and fewer pupils are being excluded from school.

Accidental deaths among children have halved in the last decade, while under-16 pregnancies have fallen by a fifth since 1996.

Housing conditions have also improved, with less overcrowding, more central heating and fewer mortgage arrears. Numbers of 16 to 24-year-olds who are unemployed have halved – to 500,000 – since 1993. In health, suicides among young adults have fallen in England and Wales but not in Scotland.

However, extensive poverty and inequality remain. Figures up to April 2000 show the number of people in households earning below 60 per cent of median income had fallen by only 100,000 – to 13.3 million – in the previous year. And despite a slow decline there were still more than 4 million children – nearly one in three – below that poverty line.

Co-author of the report Guy Palmer said it was ‘disappointing’ that numbers on low incomes had remained largely unchanged since the early 1990s. Future success in reducing child poverty would be dependent on direct Government intervention, he added.

Geof Rayner, chair of the UK Public Health Alliance, welcomed the upward trends but shared concerns over continuing poverty. He added: ‘The real worry is what is going to happen to the economy now we are on the precipice of recession.’

Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2001, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from YPS, 64 Hallfield Road, Layerthorpe, York Y031 7ZQ (01904 430033), price £16.95 plus p&p. Free summary on the JRF website www.jrf.org.uk