UK - Child poverty a real problem in Nottingham

Child poverty a real problem in Nottingham
Debate: Chris Leslie has made good on his pre-election pledge to try and improve children's health by combating poverty.
CHILD poverty and health in Nottingham will be debated at Westminster today.
The new MP for Nottingham East, Chris Leslie, will highlight "startling statistics" about the plight of local youngsters – and urge ministers not to cut vital funding.
Mr Leslie pledged to make health and deprivation a central focus of his efforts when he was elected in May.

He has set up an Adjournment Debate at Westminster Hall, in which he will press the Government on child health.
Mr Leslie said: "The vast majority of young people in Nottingham are in the poorest third of the population.
"There are some especially poor pockets of deprivation within my own constituency, including St Ann's ward, Dales ward, Arboretum, Hyson Green and Forest Fields."
Mr Leslie said some good work had been done to tackle child health problems in Nottingham, but more was needed. He plans to:

Ask for more resources to combat poor dental health and demand that the Government speed up a review of water fluoridation.

Urge ministers to fund more bed spaces for parents to stay overnight at Nottingham's Children's Hospital, based at the Queen's Medical Centre.
Criticise theGovernment for axing the Health in Pregnancy grant, which he said would worsen nutrition for babies and young children.
Mr Leslie will highlight conditions in the city, where teenage pregnancy rates are the ninth highest in the country, one third of children are obese or overweight and child dental health is the second worst in England.
Mr Leslie said the City Smiles scheme, which promotes good oral hygiene among city residents, had been recognised nationally for its work.
But he added: "I urge the Government to ensure the primary care trust has sufficient resources to redouble efforts in this programme for coming three-year period.
Mr Leslie will stress the importance of safeguarding budgets for social services and child mental health, and he will lament cuts to the Working Neighbourhoods Fund, which has supported work on teen pregnancy.
Despite huge investment in schemes to combat deprivation and improve health by the Labour government, Nottingham residents continue to have significantly poorer life expectancy than in England as a whole.
Last week, the National Audit Office found the gap in life expectancy had widened between Nottingham and the rest of the country during the past 12 years.
But Dr Chris Packham, director of public health at NHS Nottingham City, said there had been improvements in the last six years.
"In the [six] years to 2002 there was a period when health declined a lot in Nottingham City compared with the national average," he said.
"Since 2002 that has been reversed and we are now seeing improvements in health that, in some conditions, are faster than the national average."
Dr Packham added: "We need to keep programmes going.
"The economic climate will challenge us but we are committed to this preventative work as it is by far the best way of keeping people healthy – 'prevention is better than cure'."