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A Response to the proposals in ‘Breakthrough Britain’
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July 2007
<font class="titleid1siteid0">Breakthrough Britain response [PDF, 374KB]</font>
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We welcome the sustained attention paid by the Commission for Social Justice to the problems of poverty and social exclusion, and the commitment of the Conservative party to meeting the Government’s target to eliminate child poverty by 2020.

This response concentrates on the reports on ‘Family Breakdown’  and ‘Economic Dependency’  (as well as the overview)  , as these have the most relevance to the child poverty target. There are several proposals contained in the reports to be welcomed, including:
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  • Support for investment in the early years – there now appears to be cross party consensus around this issue.
  • Support to improve relationships both before and after separation. One Parent Families|Gingerbread and thirty other organisations have recently called for a more coordinated approach to post separation parenting issues.
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  • The recognition that families with disabilities may need additional support and resources;
  • The call for a stronger focus on enforcement of child support agreements in the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission;
  • The recognition of a ‘need for a cultural change within many sectors of British industry’ and that ‘ Flexible working has to become more acceptable.’
  • The emphasis placed on ensuring that employment services deliver sustained employment outcomes, to be measured over 12 months