The government failed to meet its targets for reducing poverty in its first term and will fail again in the second if it does not alter its policies, according to new estimates published yesterday by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Forum Response: The Children's Society

Emily Blay, social policy officer at The Children's Society, told ePolitix.com: "In 1999, The Children's Society welcomed the government's pledge to end child poverty by 2020. So far government attempts to eradicate child poverty have focused solely on labour market-based initiatives.

"Therefore, only those children and young people, who are easiest to reach and marginally below the poverty line, have been lifted out. This report clearly shows the government needs a radical rethink now and increase investment in children, if their targets are to be achieved."The Children's Society welcomes this report as a means of promoting government thinking."

Forum Response: Novas

A spokesman for Novas told ePolitix.com: "The statistics contained in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports offer aninsightful overview of poverty and social exclusion in Britain today.

"Poverty is a very difficult concept to quantify, and we must look at new measures beyond income that take into account other important dimensions of people's lives.

"Voluntary organisations such as Novas-Ouvertures, working on the ground, recognise that people-focused initiatives can make a real difference to cutting poverty, whether by giving an individual new job opportunities or secure housing or by enabling a wider community to take charge of its own regeneration.

"Changes to the tax and benefit system to favour the poorest in society are good news.

"However, targeting resources at voluntary and statutory bodies to tackle the other factors, such as inequality of opportunity, that keep people in poverty, especially in Black and minority ethnic communities, must also be an essential part of the government's poverty reduction strategy."