the world tonight

What initially appeared to be a quiet August has turned out to be a high-speed rollercoaster of crazy excitingness, with huge things happening at work (both old jobs and new), with Lunch, our home and our music making. It's probably several blog-posts worth of material so I'll update you in chunks. First... Lunch

Lunch is in its third summer now, with 21 Lunch Kitchens across the country serving meals to children in their communities who'll be missing the provision of Free School Meals over the summer break. Exciting stuff. Over the past few months, the media have been talking more and more about child poverty and related issues across the UK, including the holiday hunger gap.

So at the end of July, Beth McLeod from BBC Radio 4, The World Tonight, visited one of the Lunch Kitchens to see what's going on. The piece is fantastic, highlighting the situation and what we're doing
to help.

Raising awareness is a really important part of what we do - the more people that are thinking about this, the more people there are who might help. It was broadcast on The World Tonight yesterday evening and you can hear it again here.

mind the child

Mind the Child
by Camila Batmanghelidjh

This latest book by the founder of KidsCompany was published last Thursday, 7th March as part of a new series by Penguin which includes 1 book for each of the London Underground Lines.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the tube, Penguin asked 12 writers to tell their story of London as a city in 15,000 words or less.

Camila and the children of KidsCompany represent the Victoria Line.

Children who have grown up in extreme poverty in the "underground" London that most people never see tell their own stories with heartbreaking clarity, interspersed with psychology and understanding from Camila which explain how neglect, abuse and violence damage children in their early developmental stages with deep consequences in later life.

The work of KidsCompany with children such as those in the book is fantastic, drawing vulnerable children into a safe family-like environment where they find help, therapy, encouragement, practical support such as an allowance or a decorated bedroom, access to education and much much more. Sadly it's far from enough. KidsCo covers a large area of South London and recently opened in Bristol too. But the stories you'll read in Mind The Child echo in towns and cities across the UK.

re-measuring the measure?

Last week, the government announced its plans to review the current definitions of child poverty and the ways in which this is measured. Great news, except that UNICEF has already carried out this research, launching their report earlier this year at the Houses of Parliament (so you'd think the government might have noticed?)

Below is a letter I sent to my MP asking why the government feels it necessary to commit time and money to repeating this research, rather than tackling the roots of poverty in this country. If you'd like to, please do feel free to send the same letter to your MP. You can find your MP's contact details at www.writetothem.com/ Please make sure you include your full name and address at the end of the letter or your MP will not be able to respond.

I was interested to read in the news on 14th November 2012 that Iain Duncan Smith is launching a consultation to look at the factors and measures involved in defining child poverty. I believe this is extremely important, given that the Children's Society estimates that around 4 million children are living in poverty in the UK, of which just 1.7 million are elligible for free school meals and only 1.2 million are taking up the resource. I am very keen to see more accurate measures being used, particularly if it means more specific support to lift more families out of poverty.

However, I was also disappointed that the plans for this are to commission research and consultation to determine these factors. On 29th May 2012 UNICEF launched their Report Card 10: Measuring Child Poverty in the House of Commons. The comprehensive report looks at the current factors and definitions of child poverty, and suggests a range of other factors that should be taken into consideration. It is freely available online at http://www.unicef.org.uk/Latest/Publications/child-poverty-uk-statistics-report-card-10/

UNICEF recommends a list of 14 essentials, of which a child need only be lacking 3 to be considered as living in poverty. These include housing, security, education, food and nutrition and opportunities. With the current child poverty measure, counting children living in families earning less than 60% of the average income, the UK ranks at 22nd in the world. Using UNICEF's child deprivation measure, the UK moves up to 9th in the world.

I find myself questioning why the government feels it necessary to replicate the work already completed by UNICEF. Surely repeating the research after only 6 months can only serve to delay the progress in alleviating poverty amongst children and families across the UK? I realise that lifting families out of poverty is an expensive business, but is that not more reason not to waste money commissioning research that has already recently been completed?

I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,