Interview: Pressure on the pledge - Stephen Timms, employment and welfare reform minister
Lauren Higgs
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Ever since Tony Blair made his pledge nine years ago to end child poverty by 2020, the government has been fairly vocal about the issue.
But few could have predicted Gordon Brown's announcement last week of plans to "enshrine" the target in law. Even the Prime Minister's harshest critics concede the aim of the proposed new law is commendable, but allies and rivals alike are asking how it will work in practice (see Vox Pop, p18).
Stephen Timms, the welfare reform minister, says the practicalities of the legislation are less difficult than they seem. He explains that the legislation will probably be added to the welfare reform green paper currently out for consultation. In theory the new law will be set out by the New Year, and will have been approved by Parliament before 2009's summer recess.
He says work and pensions secretary James Purnell convinced Gordon Brown that a new law was necessary. "So far this has been a discussion between politicians; now we need to finalise the details," he says.
At the moment it's unlikely local authorities will be faced with new duties. Timms says he anticipates the legislation will be similar to statutory arrangements on fuel poverty and carbon emissions. "I don't think local authorities should have to lead tackling child poverty. They do have a huge contribution to make but it has to be national government that takes this responsibility on."
Timms denies Brown's decision to cement Labour's child poverty policy in law has anything to do with the prospect of a Conservative government. He says: "I don't think we'll have a Conservative government in the near future. What we want is to provide assurance in the longer term about where we're heading. Legislation gives us that mechanism. It is right to give people confidence that this is going to be delivered irrespective of changes in government over the next 12 years."
He also credits the Campaign to End Child Poverty for putting the issue at the top of the government's agenda. "The campaigning is proving effective, the message is getting across to people that there is a problem. I welcome the support we've got for the target and the pressure that's being put on us to deliver. And it puts other political parties under pressure. The Conservatives have refused resolutely to make any commitment on child poverty."
He promises he will be in Trafalgar Square on 4 October for the Keep the Promise Rally, organised by the Campaign to End Child Poverty and says Purnell and Children's Secretary Ed Balls will join him.
And Timms' interest in child poverty doesn't end there. He is one of three London child poverty ministers, along with children's minister Beverley Hughes and the financial secretary to the Treasury, Jane Kennedy.
Earlier this year the trio launched the London Child Poverty Pledge, an attempt to get private and public sector organisations to actively try to reduce child poverty in the capital. Subscribers to the pledge are expected to adopt family friendly working practices and appoint a senior member of staff to co-ordinate poverty-reducing initiatives.
He says while lots of people have expressed interest in the pledge, far less have actually signed up. He puts this down to the fact the pledge demands action, not just aspiration. "I think it is right that we're taking a little bit of time to talk to people about it. Hopefully over the months ahead we will see some momentum on the scheme," he says.
Timms says the 2010 target to halve child poverty is challenging, but promises the Chancellor Alistair Darling shares in his resolve. He says in the short term the UK economy is under pressure, but Labour is committed to ending child poverty.
BACKGROUND - TIMMS' CAREER IN POLITICS
- Stephen Timms has been the minister of state for employment and welfare reform at the Department for Work and Pensions since January 2008
- He is the MP for East Ham, a London child poverty minister and the Labour Party's vice chair for faith groups
- Between June 2001 and May 2002 he was the minister of state for school standards at the Department for Education and Skills
- His first ministerial appointment was as a junior minister at the Department for Social Security in 1998
- Timms was born in 1955 and was educated at Farnborough Grammar School before studying maths at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.