首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The government has launched its consultation on better measures of child poverty, hut it really has to be asked, better for whom
The government has launched its consultation on better measures of child poverty, hut it really has to be asked, better for whom
admin
2013-09-23
58
问题
The government has launched its consultation on better measures of child poverty, hut it really has to be asked, better for whom? This is a government that looks set to preside over a truly dramatic increase in child poverty. The Institute for Fiscal Studies projects that after a decade of steady reductions in child poverty rates, 300, 000 more children will be living in poverty in the UK by 2015. Big cuts to tax credits, a three-year freeze in child benefit, uprating out-of-work benefits using CPI rather than the more generous RPI—all will make vulnerable families poor over the course of this parliament.
So what does the government do about it? Rather than review its policies and ask how it can seek to fulfill its legal commitments under the Child Poverty Act 2010, it launches a consultation on the way that child poverty is measured.
Poverty is a complex phenomenon and no single indicator can fully capture the condition. The CPA 20/0 recognizes this, urging governments to make progress against four specific measures; relative poverty, absolute poverty, material deprivation and persistent poverty. Alongside this, we also track numerous other indicators of child wellbeing in the UK such as educational achievement, health outcomes and subjective experience.
Both lain Duncan Smith and David Laws sought to convince the audience at the launch of the consultation that the government was not in retreat from the income measures contained in the CPA 2010. But in truth, the consultation document is peppered with digs at the relative measure, suggesting that changes to this indicator do not tell us anything meaningful about "real" poverty.
The consultation also seeks to dilute the relevance of income by developing a "multidimensional indicator" of child poverty. This indicator will blend together measures of work-lessness, unmanageable debt and family stability among others to produce a single headline number that can be tracked over time.
At best, the government is combining poverty with its many consequences. At worst, it is simply changing the yardstick against which they will be measured.
Consider, for example, the proposal that parental worklessness be a key defining feature of the new child poverty measure. Using current definitions, 60% of children living in poverty today have at least one parent in work. Any measure that insists poverty is about worklessness will simply airbrush these 1.4 million children out of the picture altogether.
Equally worryingly, the consultation insists that any new poverty measure must resonate with the public. The latest British Social Attitudes survey shows just how widespread negative views of vulnerable groups in society are, but also makes clear that much of this shift in public opinion has been caused by current and previous government policies.
So, should we expect better measures of child poverty as a result of the consultation? Not better for the children growing up in low-income families for sure. And given the broader costs to society of child poverty, not better for anyone else—except, perhaps, a government that we suspect may be trying to avoid being held to account.
The passage is mainly about______.
选项
A、poor children in the world
B、the multidimensional indicator of child poverty
C、consultation on child poverty yardstick
D、government policies on child poverty
答案
C
解析
主旨题。文章开篇提到政府就儿童贫困更好的衡量标准进行了磋商,然后谈论了磋商的内容和目的,最后谈到了磋商的可能结果,所以本文主要讨论的是关于儿童贫困衡量标准的磋商,故[C]为正确答案。本文讨论的是英国而非全世界的贫穷儿童,故排除[A]“世界贫穷儿童”;[B]“儿童贫困的多维指标”和[D]“政府关于儿童贫困的政策”分别在文章第五段和第八段提及,但都只是本文讨论的一个方面,而不是主题,所以均排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/oDLK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Itisacommonthemeinmanysciencefictionstoriesthattheworldmayonedaybe______byinsects.
Accordingtothisnews,whatisthemainpointofthedebateoverimmigrationreform?
Whatarethepossiblerelationshipbetweenthemanandthewoman?
Alexander,beingofa______,reservednature,payscloseattentiontowhatpeoplesayabouthimanddoesnotlikemakingspeec
ShoppinghabitsintheUnitedStateshavechangedgreatlyinthelastquarterofthe20thcentury.【C1】______inthe1900smostA
ShoppinghabitsintheUnitedStateshavechangedgreatlyinthelastquarterofthe20thcentury.【C1】______inthe1900smostA
Acommonassumptionabouttheprivatesectorofeducationisthatitcatersonlytotheelite.【C1】______,recentresearchpoints
Itwasrecentlyreportedinanewspaperthatsixstudentswhosharedadormatalocaluniversityhiredacleanertodolaundry
Today,California’spublicschoolsareadisaster.【C1】______bydysfunctionanddisrepair,theyrankatthebottomofthecountry
Afterseeingwhatdisasterhehadbroughttohisfamily,he______ofintemperatebehavior.
随机试题
1773年1月16日发生的波士顿倾茶事件,是一场由波士顿“自由之子”所领导的政治示威事件。这次事件成了()的导火线。
前列腺良性增生时指肛检查触及的腺体特征不正确的是
患者,女性,50岁,反复咳嗽、咳痰6年,每逢冬季加重。2周来上述症状加重,并咳脓痰,体检双肺底可闻及湿性啰音。此患者最可能的诊断是A.支气管哮喘B.支气管扩张C.慢型喘息型支气管炎D.慢性支气管炎急性发作期E.慢性阻塞性肺气肿
下列关于内生肌酐清除率的叙述,正确的是()
法洛四联症的四种病理变化中最重要的是()
账务处理与工资核算系统之间的数据是通过()自动完成的。
银行信用是银行和各类金融机构以()形式提供的信用。
某一会计事项是否具有重要性,在很大程度上取决于会计人员的职业判断。对于同一会计事项,在某一企业具有重要性,在另一企业则不一定具有重要性。()
在不与我国缔结或加入的有关国际条约相抵触的情况下.国家对农民实施价格补贴和销售量补贴政策,具体办法由国务院制定。()
安居乐业对于()相当于()对于乱世
最新回复
(
0
)