PM backs poverty initiative

Gordon Brown will be addressing the launch of Nottingham as an "Early Intervention" city - a label for a new set of initiatives aimed at tackling problems associated with child poverty.

Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North, said that about 38,000 children under 18 in the city live in families on benefits or low incomes.

He is launching what he describes as a co-ordinated range of services aimed at helping the poorest parents and their children in Nottingham.

The measures include dedicated nurses to help teenage mothers interact with their children, lessons to encourage youngsters to talk about their feelings, and ensuring every 11-year-old in the city is aware about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

Mr Allen acknowledged that other cities have already introduced similar measures but said they had only done so in "dribs and drabs".

Mr Brown is sending a video message to support the launch. In it, he says: "This new initiative will help young mothers do the best for their children, reduce child poverty and increase opportunity in the early and teenage years.

"Intervening early before problems develop is vital to helping all children reach their full potential, giving them every opportunity to achieve the best for themselves and then go on and reproduce that for their own families - a virtuous circle of aspiration and achievement replacing an inter-generational cycle of low expectation and wasted talent."

Last summer, Mr Allen spent his holiday in Denver, Colorado. The American city has introduced a range of services aimed at helping its poorest citizens.

Mr Allen said that while the example set by Denver showed introducing such labour-intensive measures was expensive, every dollar spent saved 17 dollars further down the line in terms of dealing with crime, imprisoning offenders and benefit claims.