Agenda item

Motion 1 – Raising Household Incomes and Helping to Combat Child Poverty

Moved by Councillor Carpenter and seconded by Councillor Twomey:

"Raising household incomes is one of our top priorities in Barking and Dagenham. We know that the poorest in our community will pay the most as a result of the tax and benefit reforms designed by the Coalition Government.  We also know that the poorest will suffer the most as a result of the cuts in services forced on us by the Coalition Government.  Nevertheless, this Council will do all in its power to raise household incomes in our Borough during these harsh times, and help combat child poverty."

In moving the motion, Councillor Carpenter reminded the Assembly of borough statistics:

·  the second lowest average household income in London at about £24,000 pa (£23,954 in 2009) and almost a quarter of households had an annual income of less than £15,000.

·  36% of the children in the borough were in workless households in 2010.

·  the borough's high unemployment rates were 20.5% in August 2011 and would have increased since then.

·  the percentage of the borough's residents with no qualifications (23.2%) was almost twice the national rate.

In seconding the motion, Councillor Twomey confirmed his support of Councillor Carpenter in drawing attention to the actions of the coalition government. 

A number of Members welcomed the motion as it focused on one of the Council's key aims of raising household incomes.  They commented that the coalition government's policy was inflationary, that the economy could not grow as people did not have money to spend but that this Council had done many things to help its residents such as:

·  implementing the London Living Wage

·  the joint partnership with Agilisys that had created 40 jobs

·  the apprenticeship scheme

·  the Skills Centre

Councillors Baldwin and Barrett challenged the motion on the basis that it was not worded strongly enough.

In conclusion, Councillor Carpenter stated that we could be proud of our ambition and achievements to try to raise household incomes and that this gave our residents hope.  She said that there were many examples of how we were doing this – through:

·  increasing jobs locally and  through our Job Shops encouraging residents to apply for Olympic jobs

·  encouraging residents to spend their money locally by using local shops and businesses

·  having an ambitious capital programme and requiring firms to employ local people as far as possible

·  smartening up our shopping parades so that existing and new businesses thrive and residents want to shop there

·  making sure that our residents get the benefits they are eligible for and do not fall foul of new technological hurdles

·  last but not least, encouraging our residents to improve their basic skills and qualifications to help get them into the jobs that exist locally and in the London job market. 

She said it should not be forgotten that women were bearing the brunt of Britain’s remorseless rise in unemployment and that many women in Barking and Dagenham were the main or sole wage-earner.  There were many single parent families in the Borough, which was why women needed the safe secure place for learning provided by the Adult College to gain basic skills, to improve their vocational qualifications and to help lift their families out of poverty.

She thanked Labour councillors for their debate on the motion and asked Assembly for their support.

The motion was put to the vote by way of a show of hands and carried.