Council corrects ELN on child poverty figures

ON 24TH JANUARY, we published a story about child poverty in Tower Hamlets. We are delighted to report that on 25th January Tower Hamlets Council kindly sent us two corrections to the article – which we are of course happy to publish and to highlight. We would hate it to be thought that we were publishing gross inaccuracies.

First correction
The first correction concerns the following sentence from our article:
“The report goes on to name four parliamentary constituencies in which over half the children are growing up in poverty – the first time poverty ratings have gone over 50% of the child residents.”

The Council points out:
“In the line quoted [below], you write that the child poverty ratings have not previously been above 50 per cent. I’m afraid this is inaccurate – the child poverty rate for LBTH peaked at 64 per cent in 2007 and remained above 50 per cent until 2010 when it fell to 49 per cent.”

We were dreadfully inaccurate in our formulation – which should have read that this was the first time since 2010 that the child poverty figure has gone over 50% [our emphasis].

We note from the Council’s information that child poverty peaked in 2007 and then began falling until 2010, when it was 49%.  We also see that Cllr Lutfur Rahman was elected Leader of the Council in May 2008 and again in May 2009 – and he served as such until May 2010 (he was then a Labour Party councillor).

We are therefore happy to record, in line with the Council’s wishes for accuracy, that child poverty peaked at 64% under the Labour Administration of which Cllr Denise Jones was Leader and that it fell over 2008-2010, when Cllr Lutfur Rahman was Leader. It has now crept up again, and John Biggs, as the Executive Mayor, will now have to deal with reducing it again.

Second correction
The second sentence in our report which the Council believes is not accurate is this:
“Tower Hamlets Executive Mayor John Biggs has not commented on the figures yet”.

At the time of publishing the article, this was indeed the case. We expected that as soon as the figures came out, the Executive Mayor would post a comment on the Council’s website. As of noon on Thursday, 25th January, there was still no statement on the Council’s website.

However, the Council points out that “he has not commented yet” is not accurate because he would have commented if asked. This is how the Council puts it:
“I’m afraid this is also inaccurate. The council has provided a full comment including a statement from both the mayor and a council spokesperson to a number of media outlets. We do not have a request for comment from East London News logged on our system, had we received one we would have been able to provide a response in advance of your deadline.”

If such a statement had been drawn up, we would have thought it could have been posted on the website for residents to read rather than just released on request – but we are always happy to learn more about how the Council operates. We note their comments and will not hesitate to ask for statements from John Biggs in the future.

The Council goes on to say they have “provided that response below and would be grateful if you could amend the story at your earliest convenience.”

We have amended our story, and we now print John Biggs’s reponse, alongside the response of a Council spokesperson, which the Council have also provided to us:

Mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs, said, “The impact of the government’s cuts are hitting our residents hard. From the benefit cap to Universal Credit, central government has hacked away at the welfare safety net and local councils have been left to pick up the pieces. I have set aside £5 million into a Tackling Poverty Fund to help mitigate the worst impacts of Government policies. These figures should be a wake-up call to government of the impact their policies are having on the most vulnerable in society.”

A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council said, “We are committed to taking action to improve the lives of residents. Last year, councillors voted to set aside a £5 million ‘Tackling Poverty Fund’ to support those in financial difficulty – so far £1m of that has been allocated to support households struggling as a result of delayed Universal Credit payments. Our ‘Tackling Poverty Group’ is working to develop joint approaches to improving living standards and prospects for residents. On the ground, our Children and Families Plan is making sure the support is in place for families and young people at the point they need it most, whether that be through children’s centres, in schools or in gaining access to training and employment.”

The Council has also provided us with the following “further information”:

Further information
•The council’s approach aims to tackle poverty in Tower Hamlets as a whole while also continuing our work to offer comprehensive support to children and young families. Since the cuts to council budgets began in 2010, we have had to save more than £138m. Despite this, we are continuing to invest in our most disadvantaged communities.

•Almost four in five children in the borough live in families reliant on tax credits and the government’s welfare reform agenda, particularly the introduction of Universal Credit, has proved difficult for many of them.

•Last year, councillors voted to establish a £5m Tackling Poverty Fund to support those in financial difficulty. So far, £1m of that has been allocated to support households struggling as a result of the introduction of Universal Credit.We have helped 1,625 residents with crisis grants to help them through financial hardship and a further 985 people have received discretionary housing payments. Our council tax relief scheme is also helping to ease the burden on families. Last year we were ranked fourth in London for effectiveness at tackling food poverty and the third in the UK in the government’s social mobility index.

•The council is already helping to improve the lives of children in our borough. We have provided money for school uniform clothing grants and 11,293 pupils have received free school meals they would not have been eligible for without council intervention. Our children’s centres are providing health services, advice and training for parents in addition to a range of other services.

We’ll be looking at the issues raised in this “further information” over the coming weeks.

•Our original story:
Biggs’s borough: child poverty hotspot

•Read more about it:
Biggs and Blake take time out for rubbish
Biggs hosts festival of wishful thinking

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