Child poverty cash

I know its not down to the area trisher but my DGC's primary are on to their 3rd head in less than a year and I think its a case of the staff doing what is expected of them but no more. Many of the parents are either out of work or working long hours in (mostly) menial jobs. My DGC have not been able to get into a school close to home which means that picking up and dropping off is very difficult and mostly down to me. I have spoke to the school about starting something but they really don't seem interested.

gillybob it's not the area that causes that. I worked in a very deprived area where the head established one of the very first Breakfast Clubs which eventually morphed into a sort of Community Cafe run by the parents and families. It takes a lot of commitment and dedication from a good team leader and a strong supportive staff to do those things.

My DGC's primary is in a deprived area of the North East. No breakfast clubs and no after school clubs either.

Free Breakfast Clubs in Wales - it sounds an excellent idea. However, although the food may be free, parents have to pay £1 per child for the half hour of care they receive.

I still think the Sure Start centres could have benefited from the money. Perhaps some could have been re-opened.

Surely if it could not have funded Breakfast clubs or free school meals (and why the hell should it? The first are often subsidised by local firms and the second are surely the responsibility of the British government) it could have gone to foodbanks or any of the other organisations that help to feed and clothe the poorest children. At the best this is inefficiency at the worst it is deliberate and an attempt to manipulate the figures on EU funding.

The Social Metric Commission have said that.

4 million people in the U.K. are trapped in “deep poverty”

Meaning that their income is 50% BELOW THE OFFICIAL POVERTY BREADLINE.

This includes 2.3million children.

This is almost entirely down to the austerity measures imposed by this government.

Tell me? How much is Brexit costing?

Then look those children in the eye and say it is worth it. If you can do so you are not fit to be a member if the human race.

By the way, another thread on this topic was started by mistake.

It doesn't have any discussion of miners and/or unions on it, tho.

It's here :
www.gransnet.com/forums/news_and_politics/1264223-EU-money-for-UK-poverty-not-used-by-UK-Tory-government

Callistemon it need not have been spread over the whole UK.
Any help for any children in poverty would be welcome, in my view.

As the grandaughter of a miner, I am no fan of Scargill, but I agree with Grandad1943, Scargill was never going to get reported honestly by the right wing press, certainly during the time of Thatcher, also remember there was not social media, no FB to refute the worst statements and allegations made by papers like the Daily Mail. This does not in anyway mean I supported Scargill.
Back to the point of the thread, it is incredible that money available was not used, or are we to assume that people are being left to struggle and go hungry to save the government's face, because acceptance of funds would mean acknowledgement of the problem?

I have read that the Government wanted to spend the money towards free school meals, but that was not allowed. I suppose that they then could not be bothered to find another way to spend it.

Surely some way could have been found to use this cash - although, spread over the whole of the UK it would have to have been spread very thinly.

There are still some Sure Start centres open so could the money not have been directed to them if not to school breakfast clubs or towards funding free school dinners.

Attempt to trash the man of honour Scargill ? ?

Further to my above post I would be happy to join any thread that wished to discuss the Miners Dispute.

I agree that the issue of Arthur Scargill and the 1980s Miners dispute is a distraction from the main topic of this thread. However, i responded to the initial post that diverted the thread, as once again we witness right-wing members of this forum attempt to "trash the names" of leading members of the Labour movement in their hopes of drawing attention away from the total failures of this Tory government.

I agree Railman

I agree with a number of posters here - the issue of Arthur Scargill and the Miners' Strike in 1984 is a side issue and a distraction.

We could discuss the impact of the Corn Laws on poverty as well, or Lord Melbourne's actions.

TODAY we have an ongoing level of ongoing incompetence in Government that permits this "Child Poverty Cash" to be misused. More specifically not used at all.

The argument that 'restrictions' were placed on its use is a non-starter. As a member of the EU our Government and Civil Service know what funds are available, and how they are intended to be used.

Should we believe then that this fund is deliberately not being used, or that our Government/Civil Service do not have the capability to understand what or how to apply for and use those funds.

Back in the days of 'Storm Desmond' David Cameron appears to have deliberately not applied for emergency aid from an EU fund that the UK was entitled to - why?

Seems on the face of it, this latest action is just trying to repeat the subliminal messaging about the EU being bad.

Frankly I wouldn't believe a word that Arthur Scargill wrote. An account by someone further down the ranks, but close to the centre who had nothing to lose by an accurate account would be more acceptable (and believable)

Grandad1943, you rebut the talk of the Russian millions but do not mention his attempt to get the union to pay for his second home in the Barbican (a very expensive address), nor do you mention his attempt to buy it under the 'right-to-buy', He said he was doing it to add assets to union funds, but there is no evidence he ever discussed this plan with the union, nor that they agreed with it.

Grandad1943, those of us who lived in a mining village in
South Wales during the strick know more than those who drove through, we lived it everyday

And it was the wealthy NUM who demanded the bereaved of Aberfan paid to remove the tips which had killed their children

The Aberfan Disaster Memorial Fund (ADMF) was set up on the day of the disaster. It received nearly 88,000 contributions, totalling £1.75 million. The remaining tips were removed only after a lengthy fight by Aberfan residents, against resistance from the NCB and the government on the grounds of cost. Clearing was paid for by a government grant and a forced contribution of £150,000 taken from the memorial fund. In 1997 the British government paid back the £150,000 to the ADMF, and in 2007 the Welsh Assembly donated £1.5 million to the fund and £500,000 to the Aberfan Education Charity as recompense for the money wrongly taken. Many of the village's residents suffered medical problems, and half the survivors have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder at some time in their lives.

If we are the only member of the EU that hasn't spent this money I'd like to know who was tasked with allocating it.
It must have fallen into someones remit...

The National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) is one of wealthiest trade union organisations in the world due to its now very small membership and the way it has handled its investments in recent times.

In regards to Arthur Scargill, since the end of the 1980s miners strike and his subsequent retirement as General Secretary of that organisation, Scargill has been offered ever-increasing millions to give his account of all that happened in those turbulent years while he held the above position. However, Scargill has repeatedly turned down such offers, and remained silent.

Undoubtedly he and those surrounding him made a series of poor judgements at the start of that strike, but there were many in in the Labour movement that totally betrayed not just Scargill but all who engaged in that year-long battle.

Reports that Scargill "pocketed" funding sent from Russia during the miner's strike are total rubbish in my view and no one has ever brought forward any evidence to support such accusations.

Accounts written of the strike have been produced, in the main, by the right-wing media and writers. Those of us that worked in the transport industry as drivers at the time of the strike and were running into areas such as South wales in all probability have the greatest knowledge of what was really happening "on the ground" throughout that terrible and very complex situation. However, in regard to many of those accounts written, I and many of those who I am still in contact with find there content truly laughable.

Many involved in that dispute (including myself) would wish to see Arthur Scargill produce his version of what occurred prior too and during those many months of the miner's dispute. However, I feel that after so many years have passed he now never will.

I read this and swung between fury and despair, there are children going hungry all over the country. Really disgraceful.

We are off thread now. The current situation is appalling. Even if the gov. found breakfast clubs exempt they could surely have made an effort to find out from all the ‘bumph’ they must have been sent.

Arthur Scargill should have done the apologising

Scargill, who recently took his much shrunken and impoverished union to court to make them continue to pay the rent on his flat in the Barbican in London until he dies or chooses to give it up www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-25731328

I have always supported the unions as a protection for workers and remain a retired member of the union I belonged to when working, but my contempt for union leaders, is beyond measurement, with their big salaries, and multiple 'benefits' from subsidised housing to company cars. They constantly bring the last scenes of 'Animal Farm' to mind.

They all forget the true needs and wants of their members when money bags are waved in front of their eyes.

Grandad1943
At the time of the miners strike I was very involved with fundraising for the miners through my own union (SOGAT)
We heard these rumours and of course we were very angry.
But it proved to be untrue.
Read Roy Greenslades article in the Guadian ( May 27th 2002) where he apologies to Arther Scargill.