Human resources within the social sector need to be strengthened so Government is planning a strategy to ensure there will be enough social workers, psychologists and other professionals in future.

“We are preparing for this strategy,” Social Solidarity Minister Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said as she added that the need for it was felt when Government was drafting the 10-year strategy for the eradication of poverty and social exclusion.

“We cannot implement the [poverty] strategy without the people in place,” she said.

The minister was speaking during the launch of the first draft of Malta’s 10-year strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion.

The 197-page document was put together by the Government’s poverty consultant, Yana Mintoff Bland, following an extensive consultation process. Details of its content have not been released at this stage.

National statistics show that the rate of those at risk of poverty in Malta hovers at around 15 per cent of the population but increases to around 20 per cent if the risk of social exclusion is factored in.

The draft launched yesterday will be scrutinised by stakeholders, including economists and social policy experts, before the second draft is published in mid-November. A third draft will be out a month later.

After this process of extensive scrutiny, in the beginning of January the draft will be discussed within the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development and the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee. The strategy will then be launched towards the end of January, the minister said.

She stressed that, once published, the strategy would not be “cast in stone”. Its progress would be monitored and any changes necessary made.

The aim of the strategy was to reduce the rate of poverty in Malta in line with targets set, in January 2011, by Malta to the European Commission, she said.

Back then Malta committed itself to reduce the number of people who were at risk of poverty – which stood at around 88,000 people in 2011 – by 6,569.

Ms Coleiro Preca stressed that the Government would have addressed the issue despite the request of the Commission.

She said that, apart from drafting the policy, the Government was working on various other initiatives, some of which would be announced during the next Budget.