Child Poverty Bill
12:00 pm
Edna Speed: I am the founder and chair of an organisation called Save the Family. I have been working at very close quarters with the organisation for 34 years. It came out of my school; I was a head teacher. For my sins, I have spent all my working life in desperately deprived areas. The whole thing is rooted in the poverty of a child. The organisation provides accommodation for homeless British families with absolutely necessary services to turn those families around. We are the largest provider of homeless accommodation for families in the whole of the British isles and, as I speak, we are overwhelmed with referrals.
I would just like to point out that not one of our children—and it is a growing group—ever appear on the radar. It is not absolute poverty; it is abject poverty. I was introduced to the Bill through Theresa May’s committee. I joined it in the summer and all I can say is that I am very saddened to come in at such a late time, because after 34 years of smelling, touching, seeing—day in, day out—abject child poverty in this country, I believe we have a lot to contribute. Thank you for this opportunity.