Slow progress on child poverty - PM

But the Prime Minister insisted slow progress so far would not make him "retreat" from the target of halving the problem by 2010.

The confession came as Mr Brown outlined a package of measures designed to boost social mobility.

Families from deprived areas in England are to get £200 "gifts" for taking part in schemes to improve youngsters' health and development.

Ministers are also introducing grants expected to be worth around £40 a week for families where both parents work, after research showed their offspring tended to do better in life.

Under the £13 million Child Development Grant scheme, 10 pilot projects will be established in low-income neighbourhoods across England. The scheme is based on innovations from New York.

Speaking to senior education figures in Westminster, Mr Brown blamed the Tory government led by Baroness Thatcher for squandering post-war improvements in social mobility.

Since coming to power, Labour had narrowed the achievement gap between social classes in primary and secondary schools to create a platform for "a new era of social mobility", he insisted. But he went on to admit that those efforts were being undermined by entrenched poverty.

"Although we have already lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty with new tax credits, more people in work, and better public services, the latest figures show we have not made enough progress," Mr Brown said.

"But we will not retreat from our commitment or resign those children to their fate. We will not deny or explain away the figures. We will take them as a spur to action, a call to conscience."