A SHOCK rise in the proportion of North-East children in jobless families has thrown doubt on Government claims that is closing the poverty gap.

A "poverty snapshot" has revealed that 23.3 per cent of youngsters in the region have no parent or carer in work, up from 22.5 per cent in 1997.

The North-East is the only region in the UK to record a rise in the six years since Tony Blair came to power. The national average is 15.2 per cent.

But the Department of Work and Pensions immediately claimed the rise in the North-East was a "statistical anomaly" and blamed an increase in "no responses".

The rise in the number of North-East children without parents in work overshadowed impressive improvements in other criteria used by the Government to measure poverty.

According to the report, called Opportunity For All, the proportion of working-age people in the North-East without a qualification fell from 23 per cent in 1997 to 19 per cent this year.

More working-age people were in jobs - up from 67.2 per cent to 68.3 per cent and the number of people claiming Jobseekers' Allowance has fallen by 44 per cent since 1997.

The proportion of 11-year-olds achieving a level four or above in English rose from 62 per cent in 1998 to 73 per cent this year, and in maths from 58 per cent to 73 per cent.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "The apparent increase in the number of children living in workless households is a statistical anomaly.

"There was an increase in the number of people not responding which has skewed the statistics."