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BOOK REVIEW

Ending Child Poverty: Popular Welfare for the 21st Century

Edited by Robert Walker (1999), Bristol: The Policy Press, ISBN 1 86124 199 7 Price £15.99

Review by Rob Rowlands

Ending Child Poverty is a misleading title for a book which concentrates on the wider topics of the Welfare State past, present and future. The subtitle of the collection is perhaps more apt.

The book is a collection of essays and commentaries in response to Tony Blair's Beveridge Speech of March 1999. The speech itself is the first chapter of the book. In the speech the Prime Minister outlines the history of the recent Conservative assault on, and New Labour's changes to, the Welfare state. It is only in the last 2 chapters of a 17 chapter book that the topic of child poverty is considered in any depth.

This speech is followed in Section 2 with a consideration of Beveridge: past, future and present. Thus, one chapter recollects Beveridge's achievements and the little stated truth that the plan was never designed for life in the late 20th Century. The next is a consideration of the welfare state as an operable scheme, or more accurately the welfare state in the 21st century. Whilst the last looks at the current reforms and their necessity under the Labour government.

The third section of the book is a collection of ideas conceptualising social justice in its various guises, its political affiliations and dogmas. Thus there is a two page contribution (or 'chapter') from Anthony Giddens, albeit in note form, on social justice, and other chapters by Raymond Plant, on the liberal history of social justice, and Peter Kellner, relating social justice to equality of access and opportunity.

'Social Justice in Practice' is the fourth section of the book, containing a variety of chapters all with the same theme: to consider Blair's claims against his achievements in government to date. Despite the title of this collection leading the reader to believe that it is considering child poverty, the authors only make cursory mention of child poverty. In the case of Polly Toynbee's chapter it is either in unsubstantiated reference to children from working single parent families doing better academically than those who don't work, or with reference to child benefit being the only universal benefit that should be provided.

It is only in the last section that child poverty is discussed at any length. Cross and Golding's chapter on the media response to Blair's speech opens up the debate on child poverty. From this chapter it is possible to suggest that the book's title came from the reporting of Blair's speech in the Independent. Indeed, as Cross and Golding highlight, the Independent reported the speech as an addendum to a story about Gordon Brown's plans to tax child benefit. It is difficult to see child poverty as anything more in respect to this book.

Robert Walker's concluding chapter pulls the book together and places another emphasis on child poverty. His concluding chapter makes the point that Blair's speech is focussed on ending child poverty. Whilst this is an important element of the speech, the book does not address it as such until the end. As is illustrated above, much of the book revolves around a history of Beveridge, the outcomes of his report and how the system has (not) worked through the late 20th century. Theoretical discussion is limited to ideas of social justice and debates between classical and New Liberalism. It was disappointing to note that whilst several contributors recognised the role which women were to play in Beveridge's plans, there was no discussion of this from a feminist perspective, either relating to the past or its future role in a welfare state.

Throughout the book child poverty is treated as an add-on. In most cases the connections must be made by the reader through protracted discussion of poverty in general. Indeed Walker suggests that if child poverty is to be ended, then it is essential that all poverty is ended. This is a widely accepted opinion both academically and politically. Even Conservative politicians have been heard to utter such views in debates on the recent Welfare Reform Bill (House of Commons 2000).

Discussion of general issues of poverty remain necessary with reports continuing to show that throughout the 1980s and 1990s poverty and inequality had grown ahead of other developed nations (OECD, 2000). A report by Howarth et al. (1999) and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation demonstrated that despite the Labour government's stated objectives, this trend has not been reversed. If Mr Blair is to meet his objectives of eradicating child poverty in the next 20 years, it is a task which should be started in earnest.

However, the discussion of poverty overshadows what is billed as the main focus of this book - children. The focus is not made explicit until the end of the book. There are many books which have addressed, discussed and responded to the issues of poverty and social justice. It does not give a unique insight or prove to be essential reading for anyone interested in the strengths and weaknesses of the government's policies to tackle child poverty. Unless, that is, the book is intended as a true reflection of these policies: limited and unclear.

If we look at the government's approach to child poverty since its election there have been soundbite initiatives. The commitment to reducing class sizes is a good example of this. But there have been fewer approaches to address the subtleties of child poverty. Other policies have flown in the face of reducing child poverty. Take, for example, the reduction of single parent benefit in 1998, a policy which was claimed at the time to put more children into poverty than reducing it.

Opportunities may be more equal and equally accessed, but it is clear that thinking is not joined up. The changes to student finances are a clear example. Is it necessarily going to be the case that children who have suffered from poverty or indebtedness through their childhood years will chose to enter a system which encourages greater and ever increasing debt? The falling number of applications to Universities suggests a correlation pointing to this. Even if young people are not discouraged from applying altogether, experience of teachers shows that more children are considering going to local universities which may not offer the correct course or the best teaching for that person. Can this be seen as increasing access or opportunity? Therefore is it futile to reduce class sizes in the first place?

Furthermore, if we are to consider child poverty in a holistic manner, as this book appears to want us to, the government has a great task to achieve. Take one example, housing. Good quality housing has benefits for all, but can have a particularly high benefit for children. Both health and education can be improved by good quality housing (Ambrose, 1996). Yet at a time when investment in housing, both public and private, is at one of its lowest levels since the war (Wilcox, 1999), the government has failed to make any firm commitment to a solution. Although many Labour MPs were optimistic that action on housing would be swift, the reality has been a drift of enthusiasm, direction and strategy, culminating in the Green Paper being delayed more times than an inter-city train.

The book is a useful addition to debates about social justice and the future of the welfare state. However, the title presents a misleading image of the content. The focus is neither on child poverty nor does the discussion connect with or develop into a wider understanding of child poverty with any certainty. It is a book which supports much of the government's theorising and rhetoric but fails to realise the holes in the holistic approach to poverty it promotes.

If Tony Blair wants a New Labour manifesto on social justice and the 21st Century Welfare State, this is it. But it is not a solution to child poverty.

REFERENCES

Ambrose, P. (1996), The real cost of poor homes: a critical review of the research literature by the University of Sussex and the University of Westminster London: RICS

House of Commons (2000), Hansard, Tuesday 11th January 2000, col. 231-235

Howarth, C., Kenway, P., Palmer, G. & Miorelli, R. (1999), Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

OECD (2000), Poverty dynamics in six OECD countries, Paris: OECD

Wilcox, S, (1999), Housing Finance Review 1999/2000 Coventry/London:CIH/CML

Rob Rowlands
Centre for Housing Management and Development
Department of City and Regional Planning
Cardiff University
King Edward VII Avenue
Cardiff CF10 3WA
Tel: +44 (0) 292 087 4462;
Fax: +44 (0) 292 087 4640
E-mail: Rowlandsro1@cf.ac.uk