Our goal is a Britain in which nobody is left behind; in which people can go as far as they have the talent to go; in which we achieve true equality - equal status and equal opportunity rather than equality of outcome. It must be a Britain in which we continue to re-distribute power, wealth and opportunity to the many not the few, to combat poverty and social exclusion, to deliver public services people can trust and take down the barriers that hold people back from fulfilling their true potential.
Today we are publishing our 4th annual poverty report, Opportunity for All. This report sets out - as it has done since 1999 - how every government department is playing its part in tackling child poverty. Poverty is multi-dimensional. It is not only about money. It is also about jobs, access to public services, environment and ambition. It is about education, housing, the local environment, training, jobs, your home and family life, being free from crime and drug abuse. So our vision for addressing child poverty is an all encompassing one. One which straddles income, public services and jobs.
And we are making progress. Not on every front, but in important ways. We are beginning to reverse the legacy of 18 years which left one of the worst records on child poverty in the industrialised world.
Today:
* There are 1.5 million more people in jobs compared to 1997. And the employment chances of lone parents, older workers, disabled people and people living in deprived areas have measurably improved. For the majority of people, work is the best route out of poverty.
* A quarter of a million fewer children are growing up in homes where no one has a job than in 1997.
* 1.4 million fewer children are living in absolute poverty than in 1996/7.
* Over half a million fewer children are living in relative poverty than in 1996/7.
* Significantly more children are achieving level 4 in Key Stage 2 test in both English and Maths.
* Teenage pregnancy is down and there are more teenage mothers in education, training or work - up from 16% in 1997 to 33% in 2001.
All these statistics indicate that we have made progress - but there is still some way to go.
* In addition, all four year olds and 70% of three year olds are now guaranteed a free nursery place.
But there is much more to do. Our aim is and remains to abolish child poverty in a generation, so that in time everybody, no matter what their background or class, can share in the nation's rising prosperity.
Today's welfare state should not be a top-down paternalistic act of charity, a handout. It should be based on mutual responsibility, our rights and our duties: our right to a decent start in life; our duty to make the most of it and in any case to abide by the rules and laws of the society that we live in.
We are raising the incomes of the poorest - through universal Child Benefit rises, through rises in Income Support allowances, and through the new tax credits launched by the Chancellor on Monday. As a result of this, those on middle and lower incomes receive more, but there are also obligations to take advantage of the help offered, to get into work.
Progressively our aim over the next few years is for the new system to require everyone, whatever benefit they claim, to attend a work-focused interview to consider actively - with our help and support - what they can do to help themselves. That may be looking for a job straightaway or gaining further qualifications or work experience through voluntary work. The range of options is broad. But everyone coming onto benefits will have to consider them with us.
And those who opt to help themselves by taking a job will be rewarded.
The National Minimum Wage, the Working Families Tax Credit and the new Employment Tax Credit will ensure that work pays and guarantee an income higher than people would otherwise get on benefits.
We are investing heavily in the education of our young children and in the education system as a whole. We are also targeting specific additional resources at the poorest parts of the country. As I heard myself on Monday from teachers all over Britain who visited Downing Street, the Excellence in Cities programme has been a considerable success, showing up in significantly improved results, the extra money levering in both reform and higher standards.
Today we are at a Sure Start programme to raise awareness of these excellent programmes. Sure Start embodies our approach and is making a real difference to families all over Britain.
We embarked on our Sure Start programme with the goal of providing high quality services for the youngest children in the poorest neighbourhoods. Since 1999 we have invested ??470m in setting up 336 Sure Start centres just like this one in the most disadvantaged communities.
And there will be further investment, announced as part of the Spending Review. A significant increase in the combined budget for childcare, early years and Sure Start, rising to ??1.5 billion by 2005-06.
There will also be further reform. We are using that investment to create new integrated Children's Centres bringing together Sure Start services with childcare. Early years education, parenting and family support, health services - a range of quality services will be provided all in one place.
Our aim is to have 800 new Children's Centres, one in every disadvantaged area - some as part of schools, some as newly built centres. In this way we will help lone parents - many of whom live in the poorest parts of the country - access jobs and at the same time address child poverty in the round.
The interesting thing is that we know it works - working with children and their families from the earliest stages helps us address the long-term problems, the problems of unemployment, of dislocation, of crime. Results from similar programmes in the United States show that for every $ invested in early years $7 is saved in better educational outcomes, better jobs, and, crucially, reduced crime. This shouldn't be looked at as something we're handing down to people, it is part of what the community is doing itself.
I have always said: tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.
Tough on crime - and on those who break the rules: those who don't turn up for school, who won't take a job when it is offered, those who commit crimes and threaten our basic values of decency and mutual respect. That is why we are introducing Criminal Justice reforms which will rebalance the criminal justice system in favour of the victim and the community to reduce crime and bring more offenders to justice. That means reducing offending on bail; new rights of appeal for the prosecution; and new rules of evidence to stop offenders playing the system with tough and effective punishments for the most dangerous and persistent offenders after conviction.
But it also means tough on the causes of crime - poverty key among them. At the same time as we toughen the Criminal Justice System, it is crucial to address poverty, social exclusion, unemployment, lack of education, the sense of hopelessness that is so often the breeding ground for crime amongst our young people.
I am not saying that every young person who grows up poor will turn to crime. But they are significantly more at risk of doing so. We need to do everything we can to help them choose a different path. Prevention in the very early years through services like these. Decent education. Joined-up services for those most at risk so no-one slips through the net. Children's Trusts - which will bring together social services, education departments and, for the first time, health services for children under one Local Authority umbrella - are just one radical solution to this problem which we will be piloting.
Though a lot remains to be done, we have already achieved a significant reduction on street crime. This is thanks not just to tough action by the police, CPS and other criminal justice agencies but also to concerted action against the causes of crime - truancy, drug abuse and lack of youth provision. Over 900 truancy sweeps stopping more than 12,000 pupils in May alone. Over 50,000 young people participating in summer activities in our highest crime areas. And 8,500 of our most at risk young people now linked up with Connexions key workers aiming to keep them occupied and away from crime.
Britain is now the fourth largest economy in the world. We have a strong economic base and record levels of employment. We have to ensure that everyone shares in this rising prosperity. The goal is very simple.
Tackling child poverty is morally right. But it also makes for a better society if everyone has a stake in it. If we give our young people a decent start - hope and an education - then we are in a position to turn round and ask for responsibility in return. It is a simple equation - we give opportunity, we demand responsibility, and that's how we build strong communities.
Today we are publishing our 4th annual poverty report, Opportunity for All. This report sets out - as it has done since 1999 - how every government department is playing its part in tackling child poverty. Poverty is multi-dimensional. It is not only about money. It is also about jobs, access to public services, environment and ambition. It is about education, housing, the local environment, training, jobs, your home and family life, being free from crime and drug abuse. So our vision for addressing child poverty is an all encompassing one. One which straddles income, public services and jobs.
And we are making progress. Not on every front, but in important ways. We are beginning to reverse the legacy of 18 years which left one of the worst records on child poverty in the industrialised world.
Today:
* There are 1.5 million more people in jobs compared to 1997. And the employment chances of lone parents, older workers, disabled people and people living in deprived areas have measurably improved. For the majority of people, work is the best route out of poverty.
* A quarter of a million fewer children are growing up in homes where no one has a job than in 1997.
* 1.4 million fewer children are living in absolute poverty than in 1996/7.
* Over half a million fewer children are living in relative poverty than in 1996/7.
* Significantly more children are achieving level 4 in Key Stage 2 test in both English and Maths.
* Teenage pregnancy is down and there are more teenage mothers in education, training or work - up from 16% in 1997 to 33% in 2001.
All these statistics indicate that we have made progress - but there is still some way to go.
* In addition, all four year olds and 70% of three year olds are now guaranteed a free nursery place.
But there is much more to do. Our aim is and remains to abolish child poverty in a generation, so that in time everybody, no matter what their background or class, can share in the nation's rising prosperity.
Today's welfare state should not be a top-down paternalistic act of charity, a handout. It should be based on mutual responsibility, our rights and our duties: our right to a decent start in life; our duty to make the most of it and in any case to abide by the rules and laws of the society that we live in.
We are raising the incomes of the poorest - through universal Child Benefit rises, through rises in Income Support allowances, and through the new tax credits launched by the Chancellor on Monday. As a result of this, those on middle and lower incomes receive more, but there are also obligations to take advantage of the help offered, to get into work.
Progressively our aim over the next few years is for the new system to require everyone, whatever benefit they claim, to attend a work-focused interview to consider actively - with our help and support - what they can do to help themselves. That may be looking for a job straightaway or gaining further qualifications or work experience through voluntary work. The range of options is broad. But everyone coming onto benefits will have to consider them with us.
And those who opt to help themselves by taking a job will be rewarded.
The National Minimum Wage, the Working Families Tax Credit and the new Employment Tax Credit will ensure that work pays and guarantee an income higher than people would otherwise get on benefits.
We are investing heavily in the education of our young children and in the education system as a whole. We are also targeting specific additional resources at the poorest parts of the country. As I heard myself on Monday from teachers all over Britain who visited Downing Street, the Excellence in Cities programme has been a considerable success, showing up in significantly improved results, the extra money levering in both reform and higher standards.
Today we are at a Sure Start programme to raise awareness of these excellent programmes. Sure Start embodies our approach and is making a real difference to families all over Britain.
We embarked on our Sure Start programme with the goal of providing high quality services for the youngest children in the poorest neighbourhoods. Since 1999 we have invested ??470m in setting up 336 Sure Start centres just like this one in the most disadvantaged communities.
And there will be further investment, announced as part of the Spending Review. A significant increase in the combined budget for childcare, early years and Sure Start, rising to ??1.5 billion by 2005-06.
There will also be further reform. We are using that investment to create new integrated Children's Centres bringing together Sure Start services with childcare. Early years education, parenting and family support, health services - a range of quality services will be provided all in one place.
Our aim is to have 800 new Children's Centres, one in every disadvantaged area - some as part of schools, some as newly built centres. In this way we will help lone parents - many of whom live in the poorest parts of the country - access jobs and at the same time address child poverty in the round.
The interesting thing is that we know it works - working with children and their families from the earliest stages helps us address the long-term problems, the problems of unemployment, of dislocation, of crime. Results from similar programmes in the United States show that for every $ invested in early years $7 is saved in better educational outcomes, better jobs, and, crucially, reduced crime. This shouldn't be looked at as something we're handing down to people, it is part of what the community is doing itself.
I have always said: tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.
Tough on crime - and on those who break the rules: those who don't turn up for school, who won't take a job when it is offered, those who commit crimes and threaten our basic values of decency and mutual respect. That is why we are introducing Criminal Justice reforms which will rebalance the criminal justice system in favour of the victim and the community to reduce crime and bring more offenders to justice. That means reducing offending on bail; new rights of appeal for the prosecution; and new rules of evidence to stop offenders playing the system with tough and effective punishments for the most dangerous and persistent offenders after conviction.
But it also means tough on the causes of crime - poverty key among them. At the same time as we toughen the Criminal Justice System, it is crucial to address poverty, social exclusion, unemployment, lack of education, the sense of hopelessness that is so often the breeding ground for crime amongst our young people.
I am not saying that every young person who grows up poor will turn to crime. But they are significantly more at risk of doing so. We need to do everything we can to help them choose a different path. Prevention in the very early years through services like these. Decent education. Joined-up services for those most at risk so no-one slips through the net. Children's Trusts - which will bring together social services, education departments and, for the first time, health services for children under one Local Authority umbrella - are just one radical solution to this problem which we will be piloting.
Though a lot remains to be done, we have already achieved a significant reduction on street crime. This is thanks not just to tough action by the police, CPS and other criminal justice agencies but also to concerted action against the causes of crime - truancy, drug abuse and lack of youth provision. Over 900 truancy sweeps stopping more than 12,000 pupils in May alone. Over 50,000 young people participating in summer activities in our highest crime areas. And 8,500 of our most at risk young people now linked up with Connexions key workers aiming to keep them occupied and away from crime.
Britain is now the fourth largest economy in the world. We have a strong economic base and record levels of employment. We have to ensure that everyone shares in this rising prosperity. The goal is very simple.
Tackling child poverty is morally right. But it also makes for a better society if everyone has a stake in it. If we give our young people a decent start - hope and an education - then we are in a position to turn round and ask for responsibility in return. It is a simple equation - we give opportunity, we demand responsibility, and that's how we build strong communities.