Margaret Marshall, Alliance Party spokesperson on children & family issues, has called for the N. Ireland Children’s Poverty Fund allocation from the Treasury to be ring-fenced. N.Ireland has the highest birth-rate in the UK and has the highest level of child poverty.
Alliance puts people first and believes in equality of citizenship.
To bring about social inclusion and break the cycle of deprivation, adequate funding must be targeted at children.
The Sure Start programme, which is intended to give our youngest children the best start in life, lost £6.8 million of its funding because it was not ring fenced in the block grant. The Sure start programme started in 1999 in England, Scotland and Wales, but not here, where it is most needed, because the funding has not been made available.
ENDS.