Targets

I was on the Guardian website today and came across this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2009/feb/18/polly-toynbee-rowntree-report

Sometimes I think that governments can really shoot themselves in the foot when they set targets in certain areas. Tony Blair pledged to end child poverty by 2010, I've heard GB reiterate this ambition in the media on several occasions. Although it sounds great and I doubt you could find anyone who would be against ending child poverty - I think there is a problem with the setting of such targets.

Targets like this bring a timescale with them. The set time scale is probably the result of a number of factors and it could be argued that by setting a timescale it ensures that peoples' arses are in gear. However, as Polly Toynbee explains in the guardian article, Labour is likely to be a long way off in ending child poverty, in spite of the fact that they have done more than any previous government to end child poverty. So now, the Tories, who did considerably less for child poverty and actually intensified child poverty in the Thatcher years, have been handed a ready made dig at Labour. The scenario now is that Labour will have 'failed' in achieving this aim and the party that spent the 1980s creating the foundation of intensified child poverty will have gained a victory.

This is the problem with set targets. They are too one dimensional. There is always more to perceived 'failure' or 'success'

There is a similar problem with the Scottish Government's aim to end homelessness by 2012. Ive read a lot of the publications about this target (you can find them at  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/access/homeless_). However, I live in one of the few areas where homelessness is on the rise in Scotland. I work for a homeless charity that suffers from lack of funding and lack of help from the local council. Overall, there is no chance that homelessness will end in Aberdeen by 2012. In fact, I'd bet you a pint that it rises. Despite the very ambitious and idealistic plans of both the Scottish Government and the local authority, I have yet to see one shred of evidence that the situation is improving. In fact it seems to be getting worse.

Targets look wonderful, sound great but unless they are followed up with hard graft across the board or they are set realistically, they ultimately prove more negative than positive. When targets prove negative - and they regard the most vulnerable people in society - it is even more frustrating.