Sitting in the House of Commons' Jubilee Rooms, the chair of the LondonChild Poverty Commission says that, while there has been "a lot ofprogress in other parts of the country" in tackling child poverty, thereneeds to be a "major increase in employment for parents" in London ifthe lives of the capital's children are to be improved.
"In London, it's predominately about employment. Government measures'such as JobcentrePlus (which helps people from welfare into work), arenot working so well in London," she says. "London has a more challengingpopulation. There are more barriers to work, higher living costs andfewer part-time jobs."
Oppenheim is in the Commons to launch the London Child PovertyCommission's new report, Tackling Child Poverty in London: Implicationsof economic and demographic change. It shows that a combination ofnational and London-specific policy changes - which brought aboutimprovements in employment opportunities, benefits and tax credits -could reduce child poverty in the capital to 24 per cent (after housingcosts) compared with 39 per cent in 2005.
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