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'New approach' to child poverty and bad behaviour

Parents who fail to get their children to behave in school or eat healthily will lose out on up to 2,000 pounds (Dh14,406) a year under new plans unveiled by Gordon Brown on Saturday.

  • By Paul Waugh, Evening Standard
  • Published: 01:26 February 17, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: Parents who fail to get their children to behave in school or eat healthily will lose out on up to £2,000 (Dh14,406) a year under new plans unveiled by Gordon Brown on Saturday.

The Prime Minister declared that an entirely "new approach" was needed to tackle both child poverty and poor behaviour.

In a "carrot and stick" approach, Brown hinted at the prospect of extra cash for the long-term unemployed who commit to training, stay in work or turn up for key hospital appointments.

Brown is backing a US scheme, taking place in New York, which pays cash to those who decide to better themselves and improve their children's behaviour.

He said it was time for a "contract" between the government and society's worst-off families as part of a new approach to combating child poverty in Britain.

Government sources said parents would not get extra money simply for carrying out duties that were expected. "But it could be made a condition of the payment that your kids are behaving themselves in the classroom," they said.

In a speech to Welsh Labour's annual conference in Llandudno, north Wales, Brown hailed his own move to increase grants to poorer students. He claimed it led to a rise in deprived children going to university.

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