Oona King

Asked by Baroness King of Bow

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by the Foreign Secretary on 20 June (Official Report, Commons, col. 860), in which London Boroughs the 150 households receiving housing benefit of more than £50,000 a year resided. [HL2712]

Asked by Baroness King of Bow

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hanham on 28 May (WA 111), what was the breakdown of the grant allocated to each developer from (1) the National Affordable Housing Programme (2008-11), and (2) the Affordable Homes Programme (2011-15). [HL1587]

"If you want to know how to tackle inequality at home and abroad, then this is a must-read report. Here's what the Director of Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children, Brendan Cox, has to say:

A new report from Save the Children ‘Born Equal - How reducing inequality could give our children a better future,’ looks at how rising inequality hits children hardest. This trend has accompanied economic growth in all countries, and could be tackled in the post-2015 development agenda.

In the report, we find that children are particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects of inequality. New quantitative analysis – undertaken in 32 countries for this report – reveals that inequality is twice as high among children as the general population and its affects can last a life time.
Drawing on eight case studies from Brazil, Canada, China, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and the UK, Born Equal assesses the effects of inequality on child development and considers which policies and interventions have reduced inequality and delivered better outcomes for children.

The report concludes with a number of recommendations. It calls on the international community to place inequality front and centre of the post-2015 development framework. To do this we call for:

• targets that aspire to reach all people (“Zero Goals”), thereby eradicating some of the greatest development challenges such as absolute poverty and preventable child mortality;
• every target to be clearly disaggregated so that equitable progress can be monitored and we can ensure the poorest and most vulnerable people, particularly children, are not being left behind; and
• an income inequality target, to tackle the challenge of rising income gaps.

We also ask that the international community provides the enabling conditions for tackling inequalities, such as sharing lessons about what kinds of social and economic policies can help to ameliorate inequality. A robust accountability mechanism (with a data collection function) and equitable financial investment plans will also be integral for the framework to become a reality in every country.

Regards, Brendan

Brendan Cox
Director of Policy and Advocacy
Save the Children, 1 St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR

Baroness King of Bow: My Lords, in the short time available, I shall concentrate on two areas: the link between positive child development and early intervention strategies, and the link between early intervention strategies and reducing the economic deficit. I also wanted to discuss the link between poor housing and stunted child development, but time limits mean that will have to wait until another day.

If you're struggling with post-Olympic blues, here's the answer: a night out opposite the Olympic Park to see an iconic new musical, set in Stratford. It is a melange of culture, an explosion of colour, and an epic story line set alight with extraordinary singing and dancing. It is Stratford meets Bollywood. It is quintessentially London. I went to the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games just a few nights earlier, and Wah! Wah! Girls honestly equalled the stunning finale of London 2012 for spine-tingling vibrancy. If you couldn't be in the Olympic Stadium, do yourself a favour and get down to Theatre Royal Stratford before September 29th.

When people think of Rwanda they usually think of genocide or, if they've visited, maybe the Garden of Eden. Rwanda's beauty seems at odds with its past horrors. I first visited Rwanda when I was an MP, in 1998, four years after the genocide claimed between 800,000 - 1,000,000 lives. I went to a school where 10,000 people were herded, then murdered. I stood in a classroom where the victims' twisted screams were still clearly visible on their faces; the only signs of the UN were the plastic curtains with the UN logo, nailed over the windows to keep the flies out. As far as the international community was concerned, "never again" turned out to be a slogan, not a policy.