Redlands Liberal Democrats

School Dinners

At the last Council meeting I asked a question about the uptake of free school meals, which apparently hasn't risen during the recession in Reading. Not quite believing the figures, at the Council meeting on Monday I will be asking what the proportion of people who could claim the benefit actually do so.

Some people feel shame in claiming for free school meals for their children. In fact, it is one of the best things one can do when times are tough. Children who receive free school meals automatically qualify for other benefits (for example, if they need to take a bus to get to school they can get a bus pass free). The number of children claiming free meals is also an indicator used to determine whether schools get funding for e.g. new buildings.

What's also happening in schools is that even where meals are provided to paying pupils, the uptake nationally appears to have dropped in favour of the packed lunch. So, I have asked a question about that too. For me, the provision of healthy food at a good price to children is one of the best ways to improve study concentration and general health: and therefore closing the gap between children from the richest and the poorest families.

I'll let you know what the Council says.

- Kirsten

The voice of Reading's youth

While much attention over the past 24 hours seems to have been focussed on Gordon Brown and David Cameron I thought it was worth mentioning another election, closer to home.

Yesterday evening Josh Harsant of Denefield School, Reading took office as new Member of the UK Youth Parliament for Reading.

In addition, back in December, the 17 new members of the Reading Youth Cabinet were elected.

I have met Josh and several of the Reading Youth Cabinet in recent months and I have been really impressed by them - their passion for a better future for their generation.

As well as Josh taking on role of MYP, five other young people took on additional roles in the Cabinet:

Faye Gobbi - Deputy Member of Youth Parliament

Saraniya Thayaparan - Chair

Wendy Flanagan - Vice Chair

Anne Ebue - Administrator

Daniel Mija - Events Coordinator

I'm sure they will all be ones to watch for the future in Reading politics.

At a time when nationally politicians are held in such low esteem it's great to see these young people getting stuck in and involved at a local level, speaking up for others like them.

There are certainly plenty of issues for them to get their teeth into locally.

And it's not for me to say what those should be.

You can find out more about the UK Youth Parliament here.

It's run by young people for young people which I think is great.

Last October UKYP made history and sat in the House of Commons a move that was opposed by a handful of Conservative and and a couple of Lib Dem MPs.

The views of young people are massively under-represented in British Politics today.

I think it is great that there is a vehicle in Reading for young people to get involved in representing other young people and influencing decisions.

Ageism is still rife in politics, I feel.

I first got involved in Reading politics five years ago in my late 20s and in my first year on the Council I had to put up with a lot of patronising comments from older politicians who thought that for some reason my views counted for less just because I happened to be younger than them.

I won't rehearse here the stick I got for having the temerity to hold down a full-time job at the same time as being a councillor from some older, retired councillors.

Someone's age (like their sex, race or class) really should be irrelevant when it comes to judging their effectiveness as a local representative, but sadly in my experience the era of the political dinosaur lives on.

The lame comments and asides happen less now, but age is still too much of a barrier and more needs to be done to enable people of all ages to contribute to political life.

Since my election I have turned my youth into a positive and I've made a point of championing issues that young people have raised with me at a ward level - as well as encouraging and promoting young people that I meet to get involved in politics themselves.

Liberal Youth - the Youth and Student wing of the Liberal Democrats have demonstrated time and again in recent years that they are well capable of setting the agenda over and above politicians twice their age.

For example, it was the motion tabled by Liberal Youth at the last Liberal Democrat Federal Conference in September 2009 calling for action to tackle youth unemployment (which I actively supported) which spurred the national Party into action.

The Chair of Liberal Youth, Elaine Bagshaw, and her energetic and capable team have proved they can be as influential as any MP or grouping in the House of Commons on their day.

Similarly, the dynamic members of Reading University Liberal Democrat Society and Reading University Students' Union have consistently demonstrated how effective they can be campaiging on issues that matter to students in Reading - notably fairer funding of higher education.

But I think there is more that can and should be done to enable young people to have more of a say on issues that affect them in Reading.

The voices of children and young people are rarely heard in the Council chamber.

Too often the lives of children and young people are reduced to statistics quoted in Council reports.

In November last year I wrote to the Chief Executive of the Council and the Leader of the Council to encourage them to sign up to the 'Shadow A Councillor' scheme which was set up by the British Youth Council.

A number of councils across the UK have successfully piloted this scheme.

The response I got at the time was supportive but I think I need to do some nagging to make sure it actually gets off the ground.

It was my idea to invite young people to the Credit Crunch Summit held by RBC and to get the Council and other bodies to focus on the damaging impact this recession is having on young people in Reading.

And there are potentially a huge number of other issues in Reading which impact on young people which the Council could do better at involving them.

Take for example the high number of NEET young people in Reading or our recent Scrutiny Review of children's health and child poverty which revealed the terrible extent of intrenched health inequality in parts of our Town.

One of the places is this being most felt is Whitley - which also has the largest population of children in Reading.

I am looking at ways in which we can involve young people in the next stage of the Review - potentially using video and new media if council meetings do not appeal.

I would also like to hear from young people when we launch our forthcoming review into the impact of alcohol on the local community in a few weeks time.

At the last HHCC Scrutiny Panel we discussed ways in which the Council could begin to take into account the views of children and young people living on estates in Reading.

But it's not good enough to have groups of officers of councillors talking about the needs of children and young people.

We need to find new ways of actively involving and engaging young people in political discussions.

So hats off to Josh, Saraniya, Faye, Wendy, Anne, Daniel, and all the other members of the Reading Youth Cabinet.

I'm sure they will give Reading's political establishment a run for their money and good luck to them.

I hope they inspire more children and young people to get involved in politics locally.

Access and Assessment, Protection and Planning

 
  I spent a chunk of yesterday with the Access & Assessment and Protection & Planning teams in Childrens' Services.

These are the social workers and managers responsible for child protection and for ensuring support is given to children in need.

Reading faces a number of challenges related to poverty, deprivation and drug use, and these officers are tasked with looking after the most vulnerable people in families affected by these issues - the children.

Of course, their work is confidential and so it is hard to go into details. Suffice to say, I left with a greater understanding and admiration for the people doing these difficult jobs, and gratitude for what they do for our town.

- Kirsten

Action needed to reverse the childhood obesity trend in Reading

Following my post last week about the coming to light of more evidence of alarming health inequality in Reading, children's health in our area was in the news again today with the publication of damning statistics relating to childhood obesity.

This time the data (published by the NHS Information Centre) showed that 35% of 10 and 11 year olds in Reading are overweight or obese.

This is a tragedy for the children and families affected - obese children are more likely than other children to suffer poor health  to experience bullying.

But these problems go deeper and wider than just individual families. They form part of a worrying picture about public health in Reading.

These stats underline the fact that public health in Reading is nowhere near as good as other parts of the South East. 

And If we believe a healthy population is also happy population we should be worried about this.

It follows the publication in July of the local 'health profile' of our Borough which painted a very mixed picture with health in wealthier parts of the Borough markedly better than other areas of our Town.

Today's news comes the day after a national study on the topic published by researchers at University College London found more evidence linking childhood obesity to deprivation.

It's not surprising, therefore, that childhood obesity is a big problem in Reading (please excuse the pun) which is a very divided place wealth and health-wise.

Reading - where there are pockets of real deprivation and some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country.

Childhood obesity was one of the health indicators we looked at as part of our recent joint scrutiny review into children's health.

Our review focussed on the linkages between poverty and children's health.

And the prevalence of childhood obesity in Reading is without question one of the clearest indicators of Labour's failure to allieviate child poverty locally.

At the second scrutiny review meeting we were presented with pages of details about PCT and RBC strategies and programmes designed to improve child health.

As councillors, we found it hard to measure the impact: was the money spent actually making a difference? Were the worst-off families getting access to support they needed? How does the public know the answers to these questions if we  as locally elected-representatives can't always get the information we need?

As I mentioned last week, the poverty gap in England - and in Reading - is widening not closing.

This is an urgent issue and it needs a much greater focus at a neighbourhood level from the Labour-run administration and the primary care trust if we are going to reverse the trend.

A lot of good work has gone on in Reading to improve the quality of food available in schools.

However, the latest data on childhood obesity in Reading suggests that a lot more effort is needed if we are going to reverse this worrying trend.

We need to look at issues like how easy is it for families to get access to affordable healthy food, exercise and support.

I am concerned that in areas like South Reading some of these things are hard to come by for families on low incomes.

I feel passionately that now this issue is finally on the agenda we must not lose momentum on the need to tackle child poverty and poor child health.

With this in mind I wrote to senior officers and councillors yesterday to draw their attention to the childhood obesity figures and to ask them what specific activities are going on to address this problem.

My aim is to get the issue right to the top of the agenda for the Local Strategic Partnership next year, and to do some further work in scrutiny to identify what we need to do to improve child health in the poorest parts of the Borough.

It's an ambitious aim, but we have to set our sights higher if we are going to improve the health of children in Reading.

Supporting community development: tackling poverty in Reading

This evening at CCEA Scrutiny Panel we discussed the Council's anti-poverty strategy and the Thriving Neighbourhood Programme  - a really important attempt by the Council to improve the quality of life for residents in some of Reading's most deprived communities.

12 years of a Labour government and even longer of a Labour council here in Reading has failed to tackle poverty.

Need evidence?

• 15% of employed people in Reading earn less than £7 per hour
• 10,960 people (11% working age adults) are currently claiming unemployment benefit
• 18.2% of children live in these families (an issue I have been pursuing through the children's health scrutiny review)

And there's more. For anyone who thinks Reading is a wealthy place throughout...some facts we heard tonight:

• Reading has 11,871 live housing benefit claims
• There are currently 4,600 unemployed people in Reading
• 10.6% of working age adults have no qualifications
• 9.6% of young people (16-18) are NEETs and youth unemployment is a big problem

I spent a lot of time this year calling for local action to tackle these problems.

My LIb Dem colleagues and I have actively supported this programme from the word go as it has community development at it's heart: it's not just about spending money but helping the community get the skills they need to prosper and helping them access to good quality public services locally.

This programme is working well but faces big challenges: funding for the frontline community development workers who are helping deliver this programme on the ground is under threat and the recession is making problems of worklessness worse not better.

These community development workers employed by regeneration company Groundwork have done an amazing job in the areas of North Whitley that I know, including Hexham Road.

We cannot afford to lose them.

The other problem we face is a repeated failure by local health partners - notably the Primary Care Trust to invest energy and resources into improving health outcomes in the most deprived areas of Town.

As I said in the meeting - tackling the problems associated with poverty is not a council responsibility it should be the responsibility of all public bodies - including the PCT and the Police.

I thought it was important to offer more than just warm words to officers who are engaged in this work so I tabled the following recommendations which got unanimous support from all parties.

The Panel:

- Notes the positive contribution made by frontline community development workers to the delivery of the Thriving Neighbourhoods Programme;
 
- Notes however that as set out in the report (at paragraph 5.1) continued funding of these workers will continue to be challenging for the authority and recommends Cabinet to give due consideration to this as part of the budget planning process;

- Notes that gaps in support for the Programme have been identified in the area of health and, in this respect:

- Refers the matter to the Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel for further investigation

in 2009 we must not accept inequality but challenge it wherever we find it in Reading. We know that unequal societies are less happy places. And we should care about the quality of life of all residents in the town.

Labour may have broken their promises on poverty and let down some of the poorest and most vulnerable people here in Reading.

But we in the Lib Dems still think fairness matters - as Nick Clegg and Vince Cablet explained - outlining Lib Dem tax policies earlier this week.

And this means supporting communities and supporting those hard-working, committed people who's job is to support them.

Pride of Reading Awards 2009

I attended my first Pride of Reading Awards this week, sponsored by among others the Evening Post and hosted by Chris Tarrant.

I had never been to any kind of awards ceremony quite like this before and it made a nice change from being in the office or in a council meeting.

I was on a table with some really nice, interesting people including London Irish rugby player Topsy Ojo and Katie Dale, who came second in this year's Has Reading Got Talent ? competition.

It made me laugh that Martin Salter and Rob Wilson were both put on the same table (although not quite next to each other!).

There were a lot of familiar faces at the event involved in Reading's political, cultural and community life. I felt privileged to be amongst them.

I was particularly excited to meet the team behind Caversham restaurant Myalacarte which specialises in locally-sourced foods: it's one of my favourites! 

We talked about life after The Apprentice (the restuarant is co-owned by Apprentice 2009 winner Yasmina Siadatan) and what the Council can do to encourage more independent shops and restaurants in Reading.

I thought it was a really nice touch that 'Local Hero of the Year' award went to the Gurkha community - what an amazing year they have had with many of the Reading Gurkhas right at the forefront of the national campaign for Gurkha rights.

I nominated a number of local people and restaurants for awards and I was delighted to see one of my nominees - Pau Brazil win 'Highly Commended' in the 'Casual Dining' category.

Pau Brazil can be found on Mount Pleasant in Katesgrove one of the loveliest cafes in Reading if you haven't tried it - specializing in really authentic, home-cooked Brazilian food.  There's nowhere else quite ike it in town.

I have got to know Evie, the delightful owner of Pau Brazil, and her husband, really well over the past couple of years and I often pop into the cafe for a snack and a chat after a spot of campaigning around the ward.

Pau Brazil was pipped to the top award by The Moderation in Caversham (who are also involved in The Warwick Arms and The Lyndhurst in central Reading).

However, the real icing on the cake for me came when my former constituent, Kiana Gooding won the award for 'Chlid of Courage'. As soon as I heard about the category for individual bravery I thought of her.

We weren't sure if she would win though so it came as a lovely surprise to both me and her family.

Kiana has been battling a life-threatening brain tumour for over a year. Her mother contacted me last year for help with her housing situation which was not helping her daughter. She uses a wheelchair and her mother had been forced to carry her up several flights of stairs to get to the flat.

When I received Michelle Gooding's email I pretty much dropped everything and pulled every string I could think of to try and get the Council to help this family.

I'm glad to say it worked and I helped the family  get moved from their flat RBC flat in the south of Redlands last year into a house in West Reading.

I was sorry they left the ward but we made the effort to stay in touch via Facebook etc

Anyway, it was a lovely day and seeing the look on little Kiana's face when she won, made my week (although I'm not sure if it was so much winning the award or winning the High School Musical stuff which she was more thrilled about!)

 

Wasted youth - action to prevent another lost generation

The lives of children and young people in Reading have been much on my mind this week. I've just got in from an excellent meeting of the two Education and Housing scrutiny panels.

The subject was health inequality and despite the gloomy picture we are facing in parts of Reading we were able to come up with some really positive ideas about how we might make more of an impact on this problem, as a Council.

While I feel strongly that this Labour government has failed on it's promises to eradicate child poverty here in Reading it's important we do more than simply moan about it.

We are faced with strategies and action plans all the time but it takes political will to actually say we are going to try and face up to problems - set ourselves stringent targets and stick to them. A basic one should be -  ensuring that all our young people leave school with the skills they need so they do not end up NEETs.

Talking about culture, scrutiny is really starting to become embedded - this is part of the changing culture of Reading Borough Council after years of one-Party (Labour) rule.

It made a refreshing change to hear contributions from members of all sides without the mud-slinging that used to go on in these kind of meetings.

This is not to say that in my role as Chair I do not challenge officers, lead members and Council policy.

I just don't see the point of making political points when there are important matters to be discussed. As last night showed - that's what full Council meetings are for.

Lots of councillors spoke about their personal experiences of issues in their wards - the importance of having good access to healthcare, transport etc.

I was pleased that, given the subjects included teenage pregnancy, councillors did not slip into stereotyping or making disparaging comments.

We all agreed that people in many areas of Reading are sick and tired of people talking down to them and their communities and neighbourhoods.

They have a right to expect respect and access to good services just like families in more well-off areas more able to demand them.

One of the strong messages we got from officers was that we need to do more to listen to and involve local children - instead of assuming our priorities are their priorities.

And we need to make a special effort to listen to children from some of the poorest parts of town - ask them what needs to change to improve their health and improve their life chances.

I made the point that it was important we as councillors stopped expecting children and young people to come to us i.e take part in consultations and other formal structures. We need to go where young people go.

I pointed out that I engage with a lot of my constituents (both young and old) via Facebook and Twitter. I have found this is a great way to find out the views of young parents in particular. I'm pleased to say the officers present at the meeting supported this approach (we'll need to persuade the Monitoring Officer who is currently against it though!).

One great idea put forward by an officer at the meeting was to use video to find out the views of school children in Reading. I am keen we take this forward to get real children's voices heard and acted on.

I like the idea of children holding councillors to account!

We also need to listen and talk more to parents in some of Reading's more deprived areas: let them play a part in helping set the Council's priorities for the future.

Yesterday was the credit crunch summit focussing on how we can better support young people in the recession. This was my idea and I was delighted that a group of young people (between 16-19) attended the event to express their views.

It made a refreshing change to most Council meetings and lowered the average age considerably!

You could hear a pin drop when one young man spoke about how demoralised he felt being forced to hand out copies of his CV in the centre of Reading day after day. I asked him how it made him feel and you could tell just be looking at his expression how humiliating it was.

Another teenager spoke about being unemployed for two years, another said she was currently volunteering for four charities but she was still being turned down for lacking 'experience'.

The stories we heard from these young people were heartbreaking and I was pleased that the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council were there to hear them.

We need to act now to invest in their future if we are going to avoid creating another 'lost generation' as Nick Clegg warned recently. I spoke at Lib Dem Conference on this subject as I feel very strongly about it.

It is a shameful waste of young talent to see these young people already technically 'long term unemployed'.

It's not surprising they find themselves having to turn to crime or drugs when no job presents itself. And the young people we heard from yesterday want to work and get skills to work.

As a speaker at the summit explained, we are predicting a drop by 25,000 of the number of low-skilled vacancies available in Reading over the next five years. School-leavers without skills will find it even harder to find work and they will be competing with many other older people.

Sinead Brennan, President of Reading University Students Union spoke eloquently at the event about the reality facing students and graduates - saddled with massive debts and fewer jobs when they graduate.

If students leave Reading when they graduate because there are no jobs or affordable houses Reading will lose out over the longer term. We cannot afford to let that happen.

While it is possible to be sceptical about what can be achieved at yesterday's summit I prefer to be slightly more positive and say it is up to us to use events like this to campaign for more support for the people who need it most. 

We must set the agenda.We in the Lib Dems must champion these overlooked causes and not wait for the Labour administration who may not have the courage to act.

This week has been full of contrasts for me - if I get round to it I may blog some thoughts on yesterday's full Council.

As my colleague Glenn Goodall has pointed out already there was a lot of hot air from some of the usual windbags, alongside some good contributions. Including a very timely motion on child protection which my other ward colleague Kirsten was heavily involved in.

However, for me, the most valuable lesson this week has taught me is do not underestimate the contribution young people can make to the debate about the issues that matter here in Reading.

We overlook young people and the problems they are facing today in our Town at our peril.

Labour's shameful record on tackling child poverty in Reading

These startling facts speak for themselves and point to over a decade of Labour's failure to tackle poverty in Reading:

• Over a quarter of children and young people in Reading live in the 20% most deprived nationally on the Income Deprviation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)
• The wards with most children in poverty are Whitley, Abbey and Church (33-38% of all children in these areas
• Percentage of all children eligible for free school meals was around 17% in 2007 - well above the South East average of 6.8%
• In 2007 (latest figures) more people in Reading were living in the most deprived areas than in 2004

How ironic, then , that child poverty is identified as a 'priority target' within the Reading Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) and Reading's Local Area Agreement (LAA).

How long have these problems been known about, prioritised and yet in the same period the poverty gap has widened?

Locally, Labour-run Reading Borough Council's Thriving Neighbourhoods Programme was launched earlier this year to try to address inequality. It is well-intentioned but it is chronically underfunded by central government and Labour have brought it in far too late.

 And now, thanks to Gordon Brown bailing out the banks there is no money around to help those who need it most.

Nationally, Labour have failed to make any lasting impact on child poverty - as a government they are likely to leave office in 2010 having failed to meet their own child poverty targets:

"Mr Brown, when Chancellor, set targets in 1998 to halve the 3.4 million children at that time living in poverty to 1.7 million by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020"

How depressing that Labour ministers published a Child Poverty Bill half-way through their last year in office - knowing that it was highly unlikely to get through Parliament before a General Election, let alone make any impact.

So what are the health issues that children and young people are suffering in the poorest parts of Reading?

Teenage pregnancy:

 Under-18 conception rate in Reading higher than England and SE averages

Wards with high levels of deprivation also have higher teenage conception rates - high rates are seen in Katesgrove, Abey, Whitley, Norcot, Church, Minster and Battle

Oral Health

Reading has twice the decayed, filled and missing teeth (dmf-t) score compared to Wokingham.
Variation within Reading is greater than that found between other PCTs or at a national level.

Other problems we face include higher than average Infant Mortality, childhood obesity and less take up of immunisations and breastfeeding.

We know that deprivation also has a serious impact on children's ability to learn. In Reading, the gap has widened in 2009 between the highest performing children and the lowest 20%.

And when young people in the poorest parts of Reading, as I explained last week, the situation they face is even more difficult.

There is no doubt that the recession will have made the lives of the poorest children here in Reading even more difficult.

In July 2009 we know there were around 8650 children and young people live in households receiving Housing and Council Tax benefits - an increase of 12% since 2009.

This is not a record that any Labour politician either nationally or locally can be proud of.

This information is publicly available here and is the subject of a scrutiny review to be held tomorrow evening at 6.30pm in the Council Chamber in the Civic Offices.

Cllr Mark Ralph, Chair of the Education & Children's Services Scrutiny Panel and I have called for this review to focus on health inequality and more importantly to ask what RBC, Berkshire West PCT and other bodies are doing to close the gap.

Child poverty matters. It affects thousands of children and families in Reading. The failure by Labour to make any significant impact on this problem is a clear failure of political will and of leadership.

As a Party we will continue to raise these inconvenient truths both locally and nationally.I'm proud that Nick Clegg has made it clear it is one of his top priorities for government.

If this stuff bothers you I would urge you to attend the meeting on Wednesday.

NEETs: the new name for social exclusion

Yesterday evening I took time out to hear what the Council is doing to tackle the problem of the large number of young people who are not in education, employment or training here in Reading.

So-called NEETs. 

This is an awful, dehumanising term for what is essentially not a new phenomenon.

And we're talking about a whole generation of young people who have not benefitted from Blair or Brown.

A few years ago (when Tony Blair took office) it was simply called social exclusion.

This was designated a priority by Blair and  a social exclusion unit was duly set up and then later disbanded.

I raised the difficulties facing young people in this age group at our recent party conference and am pleased to see the Lib Dems nationally campaigning for more to be done to help young people achieve their potential.

To my mind, it is one of the clearest examples of where Labour has failed to deliver in reducing inequality in this country.

And the impact  of this failure is felt by thousands of families and individuals here in Reading.

Reading has a high-number of NEETs - around 8% of the current population of 16-19 year olds. That's well above the national average.

Fewer young people stay in education beyond 16 in Reading compared to other similar areas of the country.

It is is a town of sharp contrasts where some of the top performing grammar and private schools exist alongside schools where improving educational standards and pupils' records of achievement has been a long slow road.

But the high number of our young people effectively 'dropping out' between 16-19  is a symptom of a much wider issue than simply the need to improve access to good quality education and jobs (although both of these things must happen).

The real problems go far deeper, as the latest version of the Council's Children & Young People's Plan (2009-12) sets out:

"Social disadvantage and poverty in Reading are above the national average - in 2007, the borough was ranked 151st out of 354 authorities on the Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation.However, of the 93 Lower Super Output Areas (census areas) within Reading, 11 of these are in the top 20% most deprived in the country."

Speaking to the RBC officer responsible for co-ordinating  yesterday I was very impressed by what I heard. The Council is taking a lead with other bodies such as Connexions Berkshire in identifying youngsters who have left school and need support. Real effort is made to make sure all young people are accounted for and contact is made with them. 

There are regular interventions to try and encourage young people to go to college or begin an apprenticeship, with mentoring available for youngsters who need intensive support.

The Council has also made creating local apprenticeships a priority and is actively trying to persuade employers to take on young people as apprentices.

However, despite the Council's best efforts (and the fact that reducing NEETs is a top priority of the Local Strategic Partnership and the Children's Trust ), significantly reducing the overall number of NEET in Reading is proving an uphill struggle.

Why is this? 

Well, first of all  while all this effort has been going on locally the wider economic picture has worsened, undoing some of the best efforts of the people working in this area.

As I highlighted in the Summer, the number of young people unemployed claiming Job Seekers Allowance in the Reading area has dramatically increased and the number of jobs vacancies has plummeted.

Young people with low skills who want to work are finding themselves in an increasingly desperate scramble for jobs up against well- qualified graduates. It's not surprising they start to lose heart and give up feeling 'the system' and society is against them.

And as I have pointed out before the government help for councils like the Future Jobs Fund is a drop in the ocean compared to what's actually needed here in Reading.

Secondly,there are some deep-seated reasons why the number of NEETs in Reading is so high, linked to pockets of significant deprivation which exist in the town. Where for examples families where for generations children have not gone to college or university and families where at least one parent has never been in full-time employment.

An example was given of a young woman the first in three generations to go to college.

What you might expect in a developing country. But this is not the third world. This is Reading.

And this is about poverty and the impact living in poverty is having on generations of young people.

And however Labour politicians nationally or locally care to dress it up deprivation has become more rather than less ingrained in many parts of Reading after 12 years of a Labour government and even longer of local Labour in power in Reading.

If you need further convincing that NEET statistics are an indicator of poverty, please see below. 

The following wards in Reading  currently have the highest number of NEETs (RBC stats, as of Dec 08)

Church: 15.2% (52)

Whitley: 13.% (41)

Kentwood: 10.3% (37)

Minster: 8.7% (32)

Compare this with the wards with the lowest percentage of NEET young people: Mapledurham (0.3), Thames (2.3) and Peppard (2.3).

The message behind these statistics is clear: where you are born in Reading has a serious impact on your life chances and if you live in South or West Reading the odds are likely to be stacked against you.

And let's face it no amount of strategies or action plans from RBC will put right this inequality - action at national level is needed and it could take years to put things right.

One Lib Dem policy that will help in this regard is our policy to take the lowest paid out of paying tax altogether. 

Vince Cable has also said we would raise the income tax personal allowance to £10,000, cutting income tax bills by £700 a year for anyone earning over £10,000, and taking four million people out of income tax altogether.

The other is the 'pupil premium' - allowing us to invest in the education of the most disadvantaged children.

Nick Clegg is the only party leader who has said categorically that improving social mobility must be the top priority for any incoming government.

He set up the Social Mobility Commission the day after he was elected as party leader.

And I don't mean attacking 'chaotic families' as Gordon Brown did this week, for the state of Britain today. This sounded a lot like the Tories blaming family breakdown for 'broken Britain'.

Tweedledum and Tweedle Dee politics is not what's needed here.

Locally, I can't recall the Tories saying or doing anything about what they would do to tackle the shocking inequality that exists under their very noses.

The Labour and Conservative councillors who represent wards where youth unemployment is highest should be demanding action. The silence from them locally on these issues is deafening.

Local people in these wards should reject these two parties at the next election in favour of electing hard-working Lib Dems who will work hard for their communities and give them a voice.

We will continue to speak up for these young people, and all people abandoned and let down by this Labour government and the local Labour-run Council.

Two examples: I will be co-chairing a scrutiny review into children's health (and health inequality) later this month and attending the Council's forthcoming summit on supporting young people through the credit crunch.

I was instrumental in getting both these events into the Council's diary and on to the political agenda in Reading.

Because I think the situation facing many 16-19 year olds in Reading is seriously bad and warrants urgent action.

South Reading Community Fun Day 2009

This morning I went along to the South Reading Community Fun Day in Cintra Park in Redlands.

This event was the brainchild of my fantastic constituent, Tiffany Argent (pictured). Tiffany lives in North Whitley and is actively involved in Sure Start Whitley.

Tiffany masterminded the whole event from start to finish - with support from other mums, the Council, Police and others.

We need more low-cost activities for children and families in North Whitley so I was pleased to support this event.

The aim of the totally-free event was to to increase the awareness of Sure Start Whitley and other local community groups in the South Reading area.

The fun day was also about raising money for Daisy's Dream - a Berkshire-based charity which supports bereaved families and their children.

The event was opened by the Mayor, Cllr Fred Pugh, and it was a great way of promoting the work of Sure Start Whitley which offers services and support to around 1500 families in South Reading.

I met some of the Sure Start Whitley team and will be arranging a visit to the Centre (which is based at the South Reading Youth and Community Centre on Northumberland Avenue) soon to find out more.

Sure Start Whitley provide some excellent and much-needed services aimed at improving the quality of life of local children and providing hands-on support for parents in South Reading. Any family living in South Reading can access the Sure Start Centre and make use of the many free services, classes and activities there.

There was a good range of stalls and activities at the fun day designed to appeal to both adults and children including a climbing wall, bric-a-brac stall and a bouncy castle. A 'mini farm' which contained ducks,chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs proved very popular with local tots!

Amongst the fun and games there were also stalls promoting the Whitley Library, recycing and composting, healthy eating, and support for carers.

It was great to catch up with PCSO Becky Wrigley who was joined by PCSO Kelly Gosney at the event. They had brought with them the Mobile Police Unit which has proved so useful to the North Whitley Neighbourhood Police team in their work reducing crime in the area.

Becky told me that burglary in South Reading had fallen by 20% which is good news. The Police team has been focussing on reducing drug-related problems and anti-social behaviour around the shops on Northumberland Avenue. Becky told me that local people living in the area had reported a reduction in problems due to the increased Police presence and targetted use of CCTV. 

I'm pictured with local resident, Harry Belcher, Vice-Chair of the North Whitley Neighbourhood Action Group. The Group which I have worked closely with over the past couple of years has a new website which Harry told me about.

The next meeting of the North Whitley NAG will be held on 17 September - I would encourage any local residents living between Cintra Avenue and Northumberland Avenue to attend, including residents from Hexham Road area. Meetings of the NAG are held at the Hexham Community Centre.

I'm really pleased that it didn't rain (given the poor weather we've had this Summer!) and that all Tiffany and her team's hard work preparing for the fun day paid off. Let's hope this event is not a one off and will take place again next year.