MSP Briefing For Debate on Programme for Government - Eradicating Child Poverty
- The First Minister’s continued commitment to “eradicating child poverty” is clear in its ambition and we welcome it
- Ending child poverty and meeting Scotland’s child poverty targets must mean that ambition is backed by clear and targeted actions, significant investment and a coherent plan
- Increasing incomes and putting more money in families’ pockets is the most direct and immediate way to tackle child poverty, and further investment in the Scottish Child Payment remains the best way to achieve that
- Accessible whole family support is vital to respond to the impact of poverty in the lives of children and their families and must include the necessary combination of practical, emotional and financial support that families need to help them thrive
- Guaranteeing support for all children and families living in poverty must mean long term funding and investment at scale to deliver the support that will help create sustainable routes out of poverty for families
- Scotland’s poorest families are in the grip of a public debt crisis and tackling public debt is vital to helping end child poverty
More than 1 in 5 children in Scotland continue to live in poverty. This Scottish Parliament must be the parliament where we prioritise ending child poverty above all else. Our most disadvantaged families remain in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and much more action is needed in Scotland over the next five years to advance and sustain reductions in child poverty.
Children have a right to grow up free from poverty and for their families to get the help and support they need to help them to thrive. Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament have a duty to uphold these rights.
The Programme for Government sets out a range of actions that it identifies will contribute to tackling child poverty. We welcome many of these commitments – including increasing the Scottish Child Payment for families with a baby under one, expansion of free school meals and the delivery of whole family support – and recognise that individually and in combination some will have a real impact helping to tackle the impact of poverty in children and families’ lives. What is unclear is the level of investment that will follow in order to deliver on these and other commitments with many actions announced by the First Minister absent of any identified level of funding to deliver on them.
The Programme for Government does not significantly add to or build on the Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan – Bringing Hope, Building Futures – that was published earlier this year. Aberlour and others highlighted concerns that the actions contained in the plan fail to meet the ambition to “eradicate child poverty” and are potentially inconsistent with duties set out in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. The Programme for Government provides nothing further to show how the Scottish Government intends to achieve this ambition.
The Scottish Child Payment remains the single most effective and immediate mechanism available to the Scottish Government for reducing child poverty. We know social security alone will not end child poverty, however increasing incomes and putting more money in families’ pockets is the most direct way to tackle child poverty and the Scottish Child Payment has already driven progress on poverty reduction in Scotland. Families we work with tell us the difference it is making in their lives.
Read our full briefing to MSPs ahead of the Scottish Government debate: Programme for Government - Eradicating Child Poverty.