WRITTEN RESPONSES TO RICHARD COMMISSION
CONSULTATION
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TOTAL REPRESENTATION (TR)
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Letter received from the Anti-Poverty Network Cymru
/ Rhwydwaith Gwrth -Diodi Cymru
dated 25 July 2003
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| Re: Commission on
Powers and Electoral Arrangement of National Assembly
of Wales. |
| I am writing on
behalf of the Anti -Poverty Network Cymru (APNC), which
has a membership of over 60 organisations and individuals
actively involved or interested in community regeneration
practice in Wales. The membership is made up of representatives
from the voluntary, statutory and community sectors -
and of individuals with direct experience of poverty who
have no access to a community group in their area. All
regions of Wales are included in the membership base,
reflecting the different but related issues facing people
in the urban valleys, in the North, in rural mid Wales
and on the West Coast |
| We have become increasingly
aware that many of the issues facing those in poverty
in Wales cannot be dealt within the current powers of
the National Assembly of Wales. This significantly reduces
the possibility of developing a specific Wales policy
agenda in relation to issues of poverty. Household income
in Wales is only 86% of the British average, and many
other poverty indicators are significantly worse in Wales
as compared to the UK in geneial (see attached document)
We are of the view that the NAW requires significantly
increased powers if these substantial Welsh inequalities
are to be tackled. We suggest that powers should be given
to the Welsh Assembly on the lines of those in Scotland,
so that issues of poverty and inequality can be more effectively
and quickly addressed in ways specific to the needs of
Wales. |
| Yours sincerely
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Nia Higginbotham
On behalf of the APNC |
Poverty statistics for Wales
Children and young people |
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.............. Poverty
here is defined as `below 60% median income after housing
costs'.
81.7% of children in Tredegar Park, Newport live in
poverty and 80% in Townhill, Swansea.*
The youth unemployment rate is 28.6%*
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Employment
However, a Sheffield Hallam study of `real unemployment'
finds that Merthyr Tydfil has the highest level of real
unemployment in the UK (28.2%) and Blaenau Gwent the third
highest (23.2%).**
Education
In Blaenau Gwent this figure is 45%, in Merthyr
Tydfil 43.9% and in RCT 40.5%.***
Sickness
Monmouthshire and Flintshire. In Merthyr it's 30% of people
and in Neath Port Talbot 29.4%.***
with the highest proportion of claimants are in Wales
(40%). Yet out of the 408 districts in the UK, only 22
are in Wales (5%). ** |
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*The Wellbeing of Children in the UK -
Save the Children / University of York 2001 "'Real unemployment'
includes men and women who have been diverted onto sickness-related
benefits and those who are looking for work and available
for work but not claiming benefit. The Real Level of Unemployment
2002 - Beatty, Fothergill, Gore and Green Sheffield Hallam
University October 2002.
***2001 Census
****Welsh Assembly Government Statistics 2001 |
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