‘Overwhelming’ support for plans to cut Scottish child poverty to 10% or less
There is “overwhelming” support for the Scottish Government’s plan to cut the number of children in poverty to 10% or less by 2030.
The Government consulted on its plan to bring in statutory income targets and the majority of the 119 respondents agreed, with 94% in favour of making an “ambition to eradicate child poverty” law as part of the forthcoming Child Poverty Bill.
The plan aims to reduce relative child poverty to 10% or less by 2030 and three further income-based measures of child poverty to 5% over the same period.
The consultation results were published along with the Government’s annual report on child poverty, which showed improvement in nine out of 37 areas measured in the most recent figures, including the percentage of school leavers from the most deprived areas in positive destinations after school increasing from 82.4% in the 2014 report to 86.1%.
Further improvements include a drop in the number of parents who say drug dealing or misuse is common in their area, from 34% to 27%, and the number of poorest homes with children not managing well financially has fallen from 35% to 25%.
Performance is worsening in two areas – the poorest children performing well in numeracy has fallen from 61.4% to 54.3%, and the number of poorest children who feel accepted by others in their class has also fallen, from 71.1% in 2014 to 62.6%.
The report also states that in Scotland in 2014-15, more than one in five children, 222,000, were living in relative poverty after housing costs, similar to the previous year, while before housing costs were taken into account the number had increased year-on-year by 20,000 children.
Equalities Secretary Angela Constance said: “It’s simply unacceptable that children are growing up in poverty in Scotland and that’s why tackling the issue is a key priority for this Government.
“The aim of the consultation was to hear from organisations and people who deal with the effects of child poverty on a daily basis and understand what changes they see as vital to achieving our goal.
“It’s encouraging to get that feedback and to see overwhelming support for the proposals we consulted on, including setting ambitious statutory targets and publishing regular delivery plans and reporting annually.
“I will be bringing forward a Child Poverty Bill in the new year based on the consultation, ensuring that tackling child poverty in Scotland remains front and centre.
“The annual report shows an improvement in a number of areas, which is important as we seek to tackle the deep-rooted causes of child poverty. And for those areas where we can do better, we can use this report to help inform our approach and actions going forward.”
She also announced the Scottish Government would contribute £40,000 to the Cash for Kids appeal.
John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, said: “With a totally unacceptable one in five of Scotland’s children still living in poverty, it’s clear Government at every level needs to ratchet up commitment to ending that poverty.
“The Scottish Government’s proposed Child Poverty Bill is a vital step toward that – setting out clear ambitions with income- based targets to build on the areas of progress this year’s report highlights.”
He called on the Government to top up child benefit, saying a £5-a-week boost would reduce child poverty in Scotland by 14%.
Scottish Greens social security spokeswoman Alison Johnstone said: “This report underlines what Green MSPs have been calling for – an anti-poverty budget. To see an increase in child poverty is deeply disturbing, and Scottish ministers should be straining at the limits of their powers to tackle this scandal.
“Ministers have already given me a commitment to roll out nationally the Healthier Wealthier Children project, which has helped families in Glasgow at risk of poverty boost their incomes. They must deliver on that commitment. Ministers must also give serious consideration to measures such as a top-up of child benefit and the introduction of a young carer’s allowance. “
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