Mike Vickers' Blog

The David Hume Institute seminar was given by Naomi Eisenstadt in the Standard Life Building in Edinburgh

A few comments on the seminar.

1. Despite her name Naomi is American rather than a German
2. Appointed as independent adviser on Child Poverty to Scottish Government
3. Scotland is different from California
   1. White bread  > brown bread > with jam then milk
4. Poverty is not the same as inequality
5. How poor is poor – numbers resonate
6. More than ½ the adults in poverty have a job
7. That a child is physically healthy doesn’t mean that the child is not in poverty
8. A child of wealthy parents is not in poverty, but it does not mean that the child will grow up to be a productive and healthy adult.  Some kids from wealthier families go off the rails.
9. 90% of the children with multiple problems, not just poverty (unemployment, poor maternal mental health, poor housing,  etc,) do not wind up in the criminal justice system.  But this is 10 times the rate for the wider population,
10. Making sure My child is OK  – All parents
11. Expose children to ‘the world of work’ at an early age
12. High priority on early education is a proven fact
13. Better joining up: parents > schools > teachers
14. Poverty will never be eradicated but can be reduced
    1. The Nordics do better – the gradient between the poor and the wealthy is less
    2. High taxes mean better social care
15. Lower paid are less likely to go to University (not unfortunately new)
16. Quick Wins do well but often go unnoticed
17. Caring is very very expensive – carers need to be well paid
18. Naomi stressed that the ‘The problem is Me’ by which she meant that much of current policy protects pensioners from the impact of austerity, but is particularly harsh on young families.  She noted that she had worked very hard, but still felt the state protects older people like her, at the cost of younger people
    1. Which I expect applied to the majority of the evenings audience
19. Theory is fine but practice better
20. Scotland does better than England

Eisenstadt came over as a great practitioner rather than a theorist.

For more on Naomi Eisenstadt’s recommendations to the Scottish Government see https://www.holyrood.com/articles/inside-politics/naomi-eisenstadt-scotlands-independent-adviser-poverty-and-inequality.

Interestingly no one asked about the Scottish Government’s policy for Universal Child Guardianship.