Ulster Unionist Party leader and Chair of the OFMdFM committee, Tom Elliott has called on the First and deputy First Minister to act immediately following news that the number of children in Northern Ireland living in poverty has increased.
Mr Elliott said;
“News that the number of children in Northern Ireland living in poverty has risen by 3% is extremely worrying. More so when you consider that the numbers have actually fallen in most other regions across Britain.’
‘The draft Programme for Government gives the commitment of fulfilling our statutory obligations to reduce child poverty under the Child Poverty Act. This Act also required Northern Ireland to put a strategy in place which describes the activities to be taken in order to tackle child poverty. Whilst this Strategy is now in place it is clearly not delivering reductions in child poverty. Immediate action is needed and I would also say that the £80 million Social Investment Fund cannot be solely relied upon to effect the change which is necessary in this area.’
“We must take these latest figures as a warning, we cannot afford to sit back and let the levels rise any further. OFMdFM must do more to ensure we are meeting our child poverty targets in Northern Ireland, it is a complete failure if we don’t."