City child poverty inquiry begins

Parts of Bradford have some of the worst levels of child poverty in the UK

An inquiry focusing on what Bradford council is doing to rid the city of one of the UK's worst records for child poverty begins later.

The move comes a month after a report revealed 75% of children in the Bradford West constituency were living in or close to poverty.

Council officials and child poverty experts will be quizzed to find out what can be done to tackle the problem.

The first hearing takes place at the City Hall from 1730 BST.

The inquiry, which is the first of its kind to be held in the district, will be overseen by Bradford council's Young People and Education Improvement Committee.

Figures released by The Campaign to End Child Poverty in September showed Bradford West had the eighth highest figures for child poverty, in the UK.

Poverty has a huge impact on children's lives with consequences for their individual futures and the future of Bradford Andrew Thornton, Bradford councillor

In Bradford West, 24,900 children (75% of all children in the area) were said to be in low income households.

In Bradford North, the figure was 18,980 (67%); Bradford South 14,960 (60%); Keighley 10,580 (48%) and Shipley 7,000 (35%).

Improvement committee chairman Andrew Thornton said: "It is a simple fact that poverty shortens children's lives. It affects their health, impacts their achievement at school and damages their futures.

"The council and other service providers have a major role to play in tackling child poverty in Bradford.

"The committee wants to know what is being done and how effective it is."

Accurate analysis

Bradford North MP Terry Rooney welcomed the inquiry, the findings of which are due to be published in February.

He said: "Anything that provides clear, accurate analysis is to be welcomed. If you don't know the full extent of the problems how can you fix them?"

He said he would "struggle to think of anything that the council had done" to ease child poverty in the district, but added there were limits to the measures local authorities could take.