The government is aiming to conclude a consultation process on the anti-poverty strategy and present it to the cabinet by mid-January, Social Solidarity Minister, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said this morning.

The strategy, which is a condition set by the European Commission, aims to reduce the number of people who are in the risk of poverty by 6,560 by 2020. The latest figures for Malta show that in 2010 there were 88,000 people in risk of poverty and social exclusion.

The first draft of the strategy, which has been drafted after a consultation exercise with NGO’s, aims to increase active inclusion, enhance access to affordable, sustainable and high-quality services, including health care and social services, and foster the local development of rural areas.

Ms Coleiro Preca said that the first draft had been passed on to experts in the sector, who will now input their suggestions. By mid-November the draft will be presented to various ministries for their point of view and a final version will be presented to the cabinet by mid-January.

The government is currently working on measures centred on the family, which include supporting the increase of the income to dignified levels, supporting the integration of all the people in society and raising their employability, improving social services and meeting people’s real needs. The strategy will include the introduction of more sensitive and efficient family resource centres, and the correction of injustices, such as cases where low income families were missing out on benefits despite barely passing a means test.

Ms Coleiro Preca said that the strategy will be based on levels set by the previous administration, but complained that, as was the case with other reforms, previous anti-poverty strategies had been abandoned and had not reached their targets. “We are past the experimental stage, and we have to start delivering.”

Between 2010 and 2011 the rate of people in the risk of poverty increased drastically and Malta has the sixth highest rate of severely materially deprived persons. Recent EU surveys had also shown that the Maltese had become unhappier and less optimistic.

The minister would not go into details about the upcoming budget proposals, but said that there would be initiatives focusing on particular focus groups. Such initiatives will be aimed at increasing people’s employability and finding them jobs, the Minister said. Asked if the ministry will be seeking a raise in minimum wage, Ms Coleiro Preca insisted that the government is looking at a list of options.

The strategy will also be aimed at combating benefits abuse, but it was wrong to use this as a starting point. Ms Coleiro Preca said that people who cheat the system are a minority, and most cases are genuine. She insisted that this government has a plan and will abide by it, and the strategy aims at investing in people, rather than spending on them.

Strategy to include special focus on children

Speaking at the press conference, Yana Mintoff, who was contracted by the ministry to draft the strategy said that the strategy will have a special focus on children and address their particular needs. She said that the team that drew up the strategy has spoken to a number of children and this exercise had shown that there are more negatively affected. “One child said that, to him, poverty is parents waiting for their child to die,” she said. She insisted that the strategy also has to focus on cultural problems, such as young people who are just not interested in bettering themselves.