RESEARCH shows that poverty in childhood can lead to a catalogue of health problems which are likely to lead onto other problems in adult life.

Youngsters in East Lancashire on average have almost the poorest dental health in the country, have a poor diet, which can lead to coronary heart disease as an adult and obesity in childhood, struggle to get enough physical exercise and do badly at school, leaving early with few qualifications on average.

Those problems can lead onto social problems including teenage pregnancies, smoking, drinking and relationship troubles, says public health director Dr Stephen Morton.

But, according to Burnley MP Peter Pike, the Government has made huge strides into the problem and has one of the best records ever of tackling the situation.

According to DETR figures, more than half the electoral wards in East Lancashire are among the 25 per cent in the country with the highest levels of child poverty.

This, according to the East Lancashire Health Authority public health report, gives our children a disadvantage over children from the rest of the country just when they are starting out in life.

The current government has set a target of 2010 to eradicate child poverty and, according to Mr Pike, has a record to be proud of.

Its main strategy for doing this has been to fund the families who need it most, through a variety of benefits.

He said: "The Government has done more than any previous government to eradicate child poverty.

"I think we removed more than one million people from the poverty trap in the first four years of this government, which is a tremendous difference. It has improved on any previous record of a government.

"Child poverty is certainly one of the Government's priorities.

"We have done this by massive increases in child benefit, the biggest increases ever in fact.

"We have also helped families through the Working Families Tax Credit and the national minimum wage. There have been a raft of policies that have been put into practice.

"Obviously, what we would call child poverty, compared with some parts of the world, would be relatively affluent.

"This Government's record has been absolutely magnificent, compared to the last government's record."

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