Hutton backs 'crucial' pro-family policies

John Hutton has called for families to be put at the heart of the government's welfare reform programme.

The work and pensions secretary said on Friday that supporting strong family life was "one of the most critical challenges of the next decade".

And he described the family as the "bedrock" of the welfare state.

The cabinet minister was giving a keynote speech on the role of welfare and the family at a community centre in Clapham, south London.

The event, hosted by ePolitix.com, marked the end of the government's 'social exclusion week'.

'Two parents'

Hutton used the speech to suggest that children are given the best chances in life if they are brought up in a home with two parents.

Stepping into what he acknowledged was "complex territory for politicians from the left and the right", he said: "Bringing up a child is the single most important thing we'll ever do in our lives."

And he said the most stable family life was with two parents living together.

Hutton also floated the idea of a system of compulsory registration of births for both parents, rather than the current requirement of just the mother to register her name on a birth certificate.

He stressed that under the Conservative government the number of children in poverty had doubled, the number of people claiming benefits trebled and youth unemployment was a "scandal".

"In short our welfare state was failing," he said.

But with the introduction of programmes such as New Deal, the minimum wage, tax credits and pensions credit since Labour came to power, the party was turning the situation around, he insisted.

"I hope we've left behind us the old approach of the last Conservative government where people themselves were blamed for being poor."

However he said there was still much work to do.

He outlined the change in marriage patterns in modern life with two in five marriages ending in divorce, people choosing to marry later and an increase in the number of lone parents.

Lone parents

Lone parents not being in work was an issue which needed tackling, he said, with single parents "far less likely" to be in work than married or cohabiting women.

"Children of lone parents not in work are over five times more likely to be in poverty than children of lone parents in full-time employment," he added.

And he said: "Work is the best and most sustainable route out of poverty."

As such, the government has set a target of getting 70 per cent of lone parents into work by 2010.

There is a question on how far the government should intrude on family life, Hutton cautioned.

He said the family played a role which should be complemented by the state and not substituted by it.

"The family is the bedrock of the welfare state. The crucial thing is finding the right way to support parents."

He concluded: "Now, as we look back on a decade of reform and look forward to the challenges ahead, I believe we have to be confident enough to lead the debate about the next steps in welfare reform.

"And there is no doubt in my mind that helping families to work and to care will be the key to success in the future."

Hutton was joined by government 'respect' tsar Louise Casey at the event, which involved a panel debate on the best way to lift people out of poverty.

Also attending the debate were children's commissioner for England professor Sir Albert Aynsley-Green and Barnardos chief executive Martin Narey.

Child poverty

Sir Albert praised the government for the work it had done to lift 800,000 children out of poverty. "More has been done in the past six years to bring children out of poverty than in the last 30" thanks to New Labour, he said.

But he stressed that, as the fourth worst nation in the EU for child well-being, the UK was still "failing" its children.

The key question that must be answered was what is it really like to be a child in the UK today, Sir Albert said. 

And he asked the government to ensure someone was responsible for making its plans to tackle social exclusion work.

Narey pointed out that despite the good work done, there were still four million children living in poverty.

He said a key priority was reinvestment in social housing, with poor housing standards being an enduring problem, particularly in London.

And in a direct criticism of the government's Asbo system he said the punishment was a major factor in locking people into poverty.

Nearly half of all Asbos are given to children, with punishment times of up to two years - "an infinity" for a child, he said.

"Asbos were never designed to be used on children" he added.

Casey said dealing head-on with bad behaviour was the most challenging area for the respect taskforce.

"Bad behaviour is the elephant in the room. As a country we are not good at dealing with it at all."

And she insisted some parents, in some circumstances, had to be challenged to improve their parenting skills.

"And that will sometimes involve compulsion and coercion," she said.