Poverty in parts of Kent rising higher than national average
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by
political editor Paul Francis
Parts of Kent are wallowing in rising levels of poverty and
social deprivation.
That was the revelation at a major conference today, which
showed areas of Kent are actually becoming poorer - bucking the
national trend.
Kent County Council leader Cllr Paul Carter said young people in
Kent's poorest areas should now be made to take on places in
workfare programmes.
He said the most recent official Government data showed many
parts of Kent were seeing rising levels of poverty and deprivation
and that in the poorest parts of the county, the population was
rising.
"There are some really worrying trends in our areas of greatest
social deprivation where we are slipping down the league
table."
On the basis of the most recent data, only Dartford and
Canterbury of Kent’s 12 districts had made any progress in tackling
social deprivation.
Cllr Carter said the greatest challenge was closing the gap
between the poorest and most affluent parts of Kent- amid
signs that it was getting wider.
One way of breaking the cycle of welfare dependency would be for
the money spent on welfare and benefits for under-25s to be used
instead to create work programmes.
"I think you would get a very pleasant surprise if you
approached those long-term unemployed people and said to them: ‘I
can give you a job that can be sustained into the future, with
choice and diversity.’ I think 60 to 80 per cent would want to get
off the sofa and into work."
Places would be funded by councils and the NHS. "With public
sector agencies the size and scale of KCC and the NHS, we could
offer a guarantee of employment for young people."
He told the conference the efforts being made to tackle
deprivation in certain parts of Kent like Thanet were stalling.
"At best, we are treading water and if we are honest we are
going backwards rather than forward. We cannot see that as an
acceptable situation."
Mr Carter was speaking at the annual Kent Partnership conference
at Maidstone’s Oakwood House. The conference brought together
around 200 representatives from the public and voluntary sector to
consider the key challenges facing the county.
Wednesday, November 18 2009
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