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'New approach' to child poverty and bad behaviour

Other News Materials 17 February 2008 06:46 (UTC +04:00)

( Gulf ) - 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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