Responding to announcements on 23rd June 2008 of new initiatives to help in the Government's aim to end child poverty, Emma Knights, Joint Chief Executive of Daycare Trust said:

"In the wake of this year's disappointing figures showing that the number of children living in poverty has again showed no sign of improving, we welcome the announcement of new measures to contribute to the goal of ending child poverty by 2020. It is reassuring to see that the Government are focusing their initiatives on children who are at particularly high risk of poverty, such as disabled children and black and minority ethnic children, and are intended to bring results over the long term.

We are particularly pleased to see further detail on the Child Development Grants that were announced in this year's Budget. Encouraging parents to use their child's free early years education place for 3 and 4 year olds is crucial if we are to help improve the life chances of our poorest children.

We also warmly welcome the pilots announced today that will help tackle the problem of high childcare costs in London, which currently put childcare out of reach of many families in the capital. An extension of the current Childcare Affordability Programme is a positive step forward."

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