Here’s an interesting article by Tim Montgomerie in The Times of 15th October, 2015 on
« Lies, damned lies and poverty statistics »:
« The Tory plan is to supplement income-based measures of poverty with assessments of ?life chances?. Applying the five pathways to poverty that the Centre for Social Justice popularised, ministers will be required to focus on joblessness, educational failure, family breakdown, indebtedness and addiction as the causes of poverty. »
« The illusion that poverty is in retreat just because benefits have been increased by 2, 5 or 10 per cent will be buried. Poverty only retreats on a sustainable basis if the private sector creates jobs, if pupils acquire real skills and if more children live in happy, stable homes. There will no longer just be a speedometer on the welfare dashboard ? there?ll be a fuel gauge, a sat-nav and a lot more warning lights. The drive against poverty will, it is hoped, get a good deal more sophisticated. »