Nuanced interconnections of poverty and educational attainment around the UK are surveyed in this unique analysis. Across the four jurisdictions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, experts consider the impact of curriculum reforms and devolved policy making on the lives of children and young people in poverty. They investigate differences in educational ideologies and structures, and question whether they help or hinder schools seeking to support disadvantaged and marginalised groups. For academics and students engaged in education and social justice, this is a vital exploration of poverty’s profound effects on inequalities in educational attainment and the opportunities to improve school responses.

Child poverty in Scotland has reduced significantly since 1997 due to unprecedented levels of investment and a political determination to reduce poverty, but the Scottish Affairs Committee expresses some concern that such progress maybe slowing. The objective of halving child poverty by 2010 will require extra resources and commitment. Poverty can be endemic from generation to generation, but reducing child poverty can break such a cycle of deprivation. Child poverty reduction can occur through improving the incomes of parents, but an integrated strategy between the Scottish Executive and local authorities could bring about greater improvements, though problems still remain with inconsistencies and complexies within the welfare system. The Committee believes the key to the reduction of child poverty lies in tackling low pay, job retention and career advancement. Also access to affordable childcare could improve the opportunities for parents to undertake training. Child Tax Credits have also been a key factor in reducing child proverty, but greater awareness of individual entitlements could be improved. Also the tax and benefits system must be flexible enough to respond to the changing needs of individuals in moving out of poverty trap.

“Savage, wise, and witty . . . It is hard to think of a more timely, powerful, or necessary book.”--J. K. Rowling International Bestseller! For readers of Hillbilly Elegy and Evicted, the Orwell Prize–winner that helps us all understand Brexit, Donald Trump, and the connection between poverty and the rise of tribalism in the United Kingdom, in the US, and around the world. Darren McGarvey has experienced poverty and its devastations firsthand. He grew up in a community where violence was a form of currency and has lived through addiction, abuse, and homelessness. He knows why people from deprived communities feel angry and unheard. And he wants to explain . . . So he invites you to come along on a safari of sorts. But not the kind where the wildlife is surveyed from a safe distance. His vivid, visceral, and cogently argued book—part memoir and part polemic—takes us inside the experience of extreme poverty and its stresses to show how the pressures really feel and how hard their legacy is to overcome. Arguing that both the political left and right misunderstand poverty as it is actually lived, McGarvey sets forth what everybody—including himself—could do to change things. Razor-sharp, fearless, and brutally honest, Poverty Safari offers unforgettable insight into conditions in modern Britain, including what led to Brexit—and, beyond that, into issues of inequality, tribalism, cultural anxiety, identity politics, the poverty industry, and the resentment, anger, and feelings of exclusion and being left behind that have fueled right-wing populism and the rise of ethno-nationalism.

This report uses data from the Growing Up in Scotland study (GUS) to explore families' experiences of using childcare for children under the age of five years.

Incorporating HC 168-i to x, session 2006-07