Tackling Poverty Action Plan

Section 1: Preventing poverty and making it less likelyover the longer-termThe early years are a critical time for children’s physical, cognitive, languageand social and emotional development. Research is also beginning to showthat what happens to children in the early years can have physiological effectsthat are lasting. Poverty begins to exert its effects from a young age; by age 5children from the most economically advantaged groups have been found tobe more than a year ahead in vocabulary tests compared to those fromdisadvantaged backgrounds.If we are to make a difference in the longer term outcomes for children andfamilies in poverty, we must offer support earlier and sustain that support untilfamilies become resilient and self-sufficient. Low income and debt makesfamily life more difficult and it becomes harder to manage stressful events.Families in poverty require different levels of support. Families with complexproblems, for example substance misuse, need more intensive and acuteservices.Education has a fundamental role in helping to lift people out of poverty and inprotecting those at risk of poverty and disadvantage. There is a strong linkbetween poor educational attainment, low skills and poor health andwellbeing. As a Government we are committed to tackling poverty by raisingaspirations; improving standards in education; increasing skill levels andreducing inequalities in health and wellbeing.In addition to specific funding programmes and grants, such as thosementioned below, approaches that combine whole school improvement withspecific pupil-level interventions will be necessary to ensure that schoolsimprove overall and that attainment gaps narrow.Our track recordThe Welsh Government has based its approach to child poverty on therights of children and young people in accordance with the Rights ofChildren and Young Person’s (Wales) Measure 2011, recognising thattackling poverty is as much about improving children’s wellbeing as it isaddressing income poverty. The Children and Families (Wales)Measure 2010 placed duties on public bodies to ensure the right toplay and the right to participate for children and young people.The Welsh Government is committed to providing Free Breakfasts toall primary school age children in maintained schools in Wales. This isto help improve the health and concentration of pupils, and to assist inthe raising of standards of learning and attainment. This provision is ofparticular importance to children in poverty who are at particular risk oftheir ability to learn being adversely affected by inadequate nutrition.4