THE three wards in the Bradford district with the highest number of children living in poverty are all in the Bradford East parliamentary constituency, a new report has revealed.

The constituency is the most deprived in the Bradford district, and the 14th most deprived of 533 constituencies across the country.

The figures are part of a report on poverty in the constituency which is going before Bradford East Area Committee tomorrow.

Almost a third of children living in poverty in the district are living in Bradford East.

Little Horton ward has the highest number of children in poverty, followed by Bowling & Barkerend and Bradford Moor.

More than 40 per cent of children in Little Horton and Bowling & Barkerend live in poverty, and the figure for Bradford Moor is 39.9 per cent.

In Eccleshill the figure is 34.5 per cent, 27.5 per cent in Bolton & Undercliffe, and 10.4 per cent in Idle & Thackley.

Life expectancy in Bradford East is lower than the district average, but is not the lowest in the district overall. It also has the district’s second highest infant mortality rate.

Bradford East MP Imran Hussain said the figures were “extremely troubling”.

He said: “These figures sadly reflect a growing national problem with the proportion of children living in poverty in England increasing by more than two percentage points.

“The Resolution Foundation estimated that in 2016 alone, 200,000 children, predominantly from working households, will fall into poverty due to this Government’s attacks on assistance for in-work households.

“Despite these shameful figures, rather than seek to tackle the problem that sees 13,000 children in Bradford East living in poverty, the Government have closed the Child Poverty Unit which worked across Government departments to improve social justice and reduce poverty, and have scrapped child poverty targets introduced by the last Labour Government.”

One of the agencies which aims to boost children’s prospects is Better Start Bradford. It tries to improve health and communication, social and emotional development in newborns to three-year-olds, to prepare them for school. It works with families in Bradford Moor, Bowling & Barkerend, and Little Horton.

Tomorrow’s meeting starts at 6pm in City Hall.