Lib Dems condemn Labour's "crocodile tears" over school clothing vouchers. (Kirklees Liberal Democrats)

Kirklees Liberal Democrats <info@kirkleeslibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems condemn Labour's "crocodile tears" over school clothing vouchers.

September 27, 2006 12:00 AM

Lib Dems condemn Labour's "crocodile tears" over school clothing vouchers

At a meeting of the full Council today 27th September the Lib Dems in Kirklees will condemn Labour Councillors for shedding "crocodile tears" over school clothing vouchers whilst the government they represent fails to deal with child poverty in Kirklees.

"The Tax Credit system is in chaos with 78,000 families in Kirklees being underpaid £4.5 million worth of tax credits and 17,000 families being forced to payback over ££3 million worth of tax credits, due to overpayments made by HM Revenue and Customs" says Councillor Pinnock. "This is leaving many families in Kirklees in real hardship."

"The changes to the School Clothing Grant regime protected the 10,000 families in Kirklees who are most in need" says Councillor Pinnock. Labour Councillors are shedding "crocodile tears" for some families who are losing around 50p per week whilst the government they represent fails to deal with children living in poverty. Dr. Barnardo's calculates that one in three children in the UK are living in poverty and the government has missed its official target of reducing child poverty by a quarter between 1998/1999 and 2004/2005. The Government could just bring to an end the chaos in the Tax Credit System and poorer families in Kirklees would be 4.5 million pounds better off."

Councillor Pinnock will also go on to say "All families in Kirklees are being additionally "taxed" through the government's failure to scrap restrictive supply arrangements for items of compulsorily school uniform. She will urge all school governing bodies to examine any restrictive practices and self-supply arrangements in the light of the report from the Office of Fair Trading."

"The increasing costs of school uniforms are not the only issue facing ordinary hard-working families in Kirklees" says Councillor Pinnock. " Our "free" school system in practice still levies charges on even the lowest income families in Kirklees. Research by the Norwich Union School Sum's Index shows that the total a parent now has to spend on "free" education in the UK is on average £1,300 per year per child - a rise of £200 over the last four years. This represents a shocking £14,000 per child for school related costs from the age of five to 16. We agree that the cost of schooling is a real problem for families in Kirklees. Shedding "crocodile tears" over clothing vouchers is not the answer to this problem. We want the government to do more to help families out of poverty through better pay and more job opportunities, better education and training for disadvantaged groups, further improvements to childcare and the promotion of equal pay for women.