This major new book provides, for the first time, a detailed evaluation of policies on poverty and social exclusion since 1997, and their effects. Bringing together leading experts in the field, it considers the challenges the government has faced, the policies chosen and the targets set in order to assess results. Drawing on research from the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, and on external evaluations, the book asks how children, older people, poor neighbourhoods, ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups have fared under New Labour and seeks to assess the government both on its own terms - in meeting its own targets - and according to alternative views of social exclusion.
Introduction ~ Kitty Stewart and John Hills; Part One: Aspects of exclusion: Employment: tackling poverty through 'work for those who can' ~ Abigail McKnight; Education, education, education ...: an assessment of Labour's success in tackling education inequalities ~ Abigail McKnight, Howard Glennerster and Ruth Lupton; Tackling health inequalities ~ Franco Sassi; Social and political participation and inclusion ~ Liz Richardson; Part Two: Groups at risk: Disadvantaged by where you live? New Labour and neighbourhood renewal ~ Ruth Lupton and Anne Power; Towards an equal start? Addressing childhood poverty and deprivation ~ Kitty Stewart; A secure retirement for all? Older people and New Labour ~ Maria Evandrou and Jane Falkingham; Ethnic inequalities under New Labour: progress or entrenchment? ~ Coretta Phillips; Selective inclusion: asylum seekers and other marginalised groups ~ Tania Burchardt; Part Three: Overall impact: Inequality and poverty under New Labour ~ Tom Sefton and Holly Sutherland; That's the way the money goes: expenditure patterns as real incomes rise for the poorest families with children ~ Paul Gregg, Jane Waldfogel and Elizabeth Washbrook; Bringing up families in poor neighbourhoods under New Labour ~ Anne Power and Helen Willmot; Changes in poverty and inequality in the UK in international context ~ Kitty Stewart; Part Four: Conclusion: a tide turned but mountains yet to climb? ~ John Hills and Kitty Stewart.
