Willott Takes Child Poverty Inquiry to Cardiff

12.00.00am GMT Wed 28th Nov 2007

Tomorrow (Thursday), the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, will visit Cardiff to meet a variety of voluntary organisations and others as part of their ongoing inquiry into Child Poverty.

Commenting in advance, Jenny Willott MP and member of the Committee, said:

"There are few other areas in the UK where it is more evident that the Government's strategy to combat child poverty is failing.

"25 out of 40 Welsh local authorities have higher than average levels of out-of-work families and there are a total of 165,000 Welsh families living in poverty.

"Every year, low income families in Wales miss out on around £700m in benefits and tax credit entitlements and of low income parents who have been able to find a job, 60,000 are missing an average of £1,000 a year in child and working tax credits.

"Despite the scale of the problem, there are many organisations in Cardiff that are running truly innovative and effective programmes for tackling child poverty, and the Committee will learn a lot from what they have to say.

"It's a great opportunity to bring MPs from across the UK to see what we're doing in Cardiff and maybe learn some lessons that could benefit cities in England."