The Child Poverty Action Group has welcomed some of the ideas in a report on early years and poverty published yesterday. The report by Labour MP Frank Field said the race to succeed in life was over for many children by the day they first arrived at primary school. It found that by age five "huge class differences" already existed between the abilities of pupils from comfortable and disadvantaged backgrounds, condemning many poor children to grow up to be poor adults.

The former welfare reform minister - recruited as "poverty tsar" by David Cameron - called on the government to give more support to parents and children in the first five years of life. The aim would be to break the cycle of disadvantage that traps families in poverty over generations.

Imran Hussain, head of policy for Child Poverty Action Group, said: "There are some good ideas in Frank Field's report. It is indefensible that so many children are living in poverty. To be effective, the government's own child poverty strategy, expected in March, must look at improving childhoods today as well as life chances for the future."