Action plan against poverty

The Government aims to eradicate poverty and reduce social and economic differences through universal welfare schemes, strong collective solutions and by providing individual with an opportunity to participate in employment. The Government presented a proposed action plan against poverty together with the National Budget for 2007.

The action plan focuses on three sub-goals:

• that everyone be given an opportunity for employment
• that children and young people shall be able to participate in society and develop themselves
• to improve living conditions for the most disadvantaged

In the National Budget for 2008, the Government followed up the action plan with proposals to further boost efforts in this area by NOK 336.1 million, while at the same time continuing the measures initiated in 2007.

Among other things, it is proposed to allocate more than NOK 250 million, which is approximately NOK 200 million more than in 2007, to the implementation of a qualification programme with pertaining qualification benefit for people with significantly impaired work capacity and earning ability and who have no or only very limited entitlement to subsistence benefits from the National Insurance scheme.

It is also proposed to strengthen adults’ right to further education (NOK 21 million), to increase the allocation for measures for children and young people at risk (NOK 20 million), to establish more voluntary centres (NOK 6.6 million) and a number of measures relating to the Government’s escalation plan for the drugs and alcohol field (NOK 76 million). The Government emphasises the importance of good dialogue with voluntary organisations and representatives of disadvantaged and marginalised groups, and it therefore proposes to allocate NOK 10 million to strengthening and further developing this dialogue in 2008.

With the Government’s proposed measures in the National Budget for 2008, the annual allocations for measures to combat poverty will have been increased by approximately NOK 1.6 billion in relation to the budget proposed by the Bondevik II Government for 2006.