The Chancellor was in Greater Manchester today
Wigan MP and culture secretary Lisa Nandy, left, with chancellor Rachel Reeves
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has visited Wigan to launch a £500m fund to help vulnerable children in the town and across the UK.
Supported also by the culture secretary and Wigan MP Lisa Nandy and Makerfield MP Josh Simons, she visited Westleigh Methodist Primary School, which is being held up as a ‘trailblazer’ for how to boost the life chances of children.
Reeves says the Better Futures Fund will support up to 200,000 children and their families over the next 10 years by bringing together Government, local communities, charities, social enterprises, investors and philanthropists to give children a better future.
The chancellor told how she had seen the work done by the charity All Child at Westleigh during her visit.
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She said: “It was about all the needs of a child, joining those up and making sure that things like school attendance are better.
“Today, we saw a project that was about ‘learning through play’. It was really powerful – children who perhaps at home don’t have access to the toys and the opportunities that we would all want for our children and this project is about extending those opportunities.
From left, Lisa Nandy, Rachel Reeves and Josh Simons, chat to staff at Westleigh Methodist Primary School
“I do want children here in Westleigh, Wigan and right across the country to benefit.”
Ms Nandy added: “Westleigh is the trailblazer for how you turn around the life chances of young people who deserve so much more.
“That’s why we’re partnering as a Government with private philanthropists and Wigan council to show how you can do this.
“Rachel and I have just met some incredible young people who have come on leaps and bounds since this project started here at Westleigh Methodist Primary School back in September.
“We believe that it’s a scandal that in some parts of the North West there are 50 per cent of children growing up in poverty without the life chances that they deserve. This Government will never rest until that is changed.
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“We met children over the last year who haven’t got toys at home, food to eat, or shoes to wear to school. That’s why we’re wasting no time in investing in their futures, whether it’s free breakfast clubs, extending the welfare system to better support people back into work, and to ensure children don’t have to worry about going to school too hungry to learn.”
The Westleigh school is in Mr Simons’ Makerfield constituency.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I’m really excited that this fund is being launched in a primary school here.
“Government funding is going to enable this programme that’s only happening in Westleigh at the moment, to roll out to other parts of Wigan so other kids that I also represent can now benefit.”
He said that All Child has a contract with Wigan council which expires next year.
“When the contract is up, they will look to secure more funding from the £500m alongside philanthropists to roll out to other schools,” he added.
“There’s no better trailblazer of this work than what’s happening here in Westleigh. There’s a very good prospect with the right bid and the right support, this work can scale across the area.”
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