Frank Field urges business community to help tackle poverty

"Give me a boy of five and I'll show you the man at 30." That was the message from Frank Field MP at an event hosted by Liverpool cash plan provider Medicash at the Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre today.

His comments came on the back of his independent review on poverty, 'The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults' published in December.

Addressing an audience of business leaders from across the city, Mr Field said that children from poorer families across the UK have desperately bleak prospects compared with those from wealthier backgrounds. Despite millions being poured in to welfare over the last decade he described the impact as 'minimal' and is urging the government to respond quickly to his report which states that "for many children from disadvantaged backgrounds by the time they start school, life's race is effectively over."

Calling for a new set of Life Chances Indicators to be devised to help measure a child's physical, emotional and cognitive development at the age of three and five, he said that instead of simply increasing benefits the money saved could be invested in the pre-school 'foundation years'.

His report recommended that 'foundation years' services should be paid according to their success in narrowing class differences as children start school, and said it was critical that action was taken locally at grass roots level if support was to be delivered effectively to parents and children that need it most. He also suggested that annually published Life Chances Indicators would be released at a local level, allowing taxpayers to assess whether their local authority is running the foundation years effectively.

He said that parents are the key drivers in determining their children's life chances and concluded that help and support to young families in the earliest years of a child's life must be provided if the UK is to prevent 'poor children from becoming poor adults'. He also highlighted the role of schools and the importance of creating safe and productive learning environments which allowed youngsters to achieve their realistic potential.

Chief Executive Sue Weir welcomed Frank Field's address. She said: "Frank Field's report has delivered some stark truths around the severity and impact of poverty in the UK and its implications for the future. The business community cannot afford not to support his proposals if we are to secure a new next generation of business talent and harness the potential of the children of tomorrow."