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The next item of business is a statement by Shirley-Anne Somerville on the tackling child poverty delivery plan. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, and therefore there should be no interventions or interruptions. You have up to 10 minutes, cabinet secretary.
14:26
Eradicating child poverty is the Government’s top priority and a national mission that belongs to all of us. Today, I am pleased to publish the Scottish Government’s third and final tackling child poverty delivery plan. “Bringing Hope, Building Futures” is much more than a statutory milestone; it reaffirms our commitment to eradicating child poverty and transforming the lives of children, families and communities across Scotland. That commitment is shared collectively by all my ministerial colleagues, who have been critical to the plan’s development.
I put on record my significant thanks to all the children, young people, parents and stakeholders who have shared their views and experiences throughout our wide-ranging consultation. I also thank parliamentary committees for their responses and Scotland’s Poverty and Inequality Commission for the advice and challenge that it has given. Those views have helped to inform our approach and the actions that I will set out today.
The actions in the plan build on eight years of progress. That progress has been made despite years of austerity from successive United Kingdom Governments, and despite external shocks that include Brexit, the Covid pandemic, Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the on-going cost of living crisis.
We are making a real difference. In 2023-24, rates of relative child poverty fell to the lowest level in almost a decade—standing 9 percentage points below the UK average—with rates rising in England and Wales. That progress matters, but we must continue to go further. With the Scottish parliamentary elections due to take place in May, the plan that has been published today sets out a robust and enduring framework that will enable the next Government to meet the statutory child poverty targets.
Focusing on action during the first year, the plan is backed by considerable investment, including every penny of funding that was previously committed to our two-child limit payment, and it provides foundations on which any incoming Administration can build and reflect its own policy priorities and plans for accelerating progress.
“Bringing Hope, Building Futures” retains our focus on the drivers of poverty reduction and outlines four key themes: increasing earned incomes; reducing the cost of living; maximising incomes from social security and benefits in kind; and supporting children and families to thrive. It also retains our focus on the families who are at greatest risk of poverty and recognises that women’s poverty is children’s poverty. Underpinning that is our commitment to enabling whole family support and realising a transformative shift towards support that is more joined-up, easier to navigate and shaped around what families really need.
I turn to how we will drive progress on those priorities during the coming year. Through the Scottish budget and spending review, we set out plans that will help more parents to increase their earned incomes. Those plans include investing £90 million a year in our devolved employability services; delivering a national breakfast club offer for all primary school children, which is backed by more than £100 million across the next three years; and providing up to £9 million through a new raising income through skills and education—RISE—initiative for colleges, to help parents access the skills and education that they need.
Today, I confirm our plans to go further still to strengthen in-work support for parents and remove barriers relating to skills, childcare and transport. First, in partnership with Scotland’s colleges, we will invest £2 million in a new training access fund to provide training opportunities for parents in low-paid work. Secondly, we will invest up to £4.2 million to deliver 200 paid work placements in our national health service for parents at risk of poverty—helping more parents into good-quality NHS jobs. Thirdly, we will invest an additional £15 million to support low-income families to access the childcare that they need to enter and stay in employment. Fourthly, we will invest up to £19 million to develop a new transport to employment offer for low-income parents—helping parents with travel costs and increasing the travel options available. Finally, we will invest £10 million in a new flexible workforce development fund to help incentivise employers to support upskilling and progression opportunities for parents and implement fair work policies—investing in support that is good for families and for economic growth.
We also set out plans in the budget to help tackle the cost of living for families. They include investing a record £4.1 billion over the next four years to support the delivery of 36,000 affordable homes; providing a further £1 million in our islands cost crisis emergency fund; and continued investment in our energy efficiency programmes, including warmer homes Scotland.
Building on our record commitment to invest £106 million in discretionary housing payments next year, we will go even further. The UK Government’s decision to freeze local housing allowance rates is wrong and is making it harder for families to make ends meet. That is why I am confirming our intention to invest up to a further £9 million in discretionary housing payments to support those impacted. That investment is homelessness prevention in action and will support up to an estimated 18,000 families to meet rent costs and maintain their tenancies.
As a result, we have committed a total of £159 million next year to the mitigation of UK Government policies, including the bedroom tax and the cruel benefit cap. Investment through social security remains the most direct way to increase family incomes and keep children out of poverty. From April, all Scottish benefits will increase in line with inflation. That means that our unique Scottish child payment will be worth £28.20 per child per week, keeping an estimated 50,000 children out of relative poverty next year. We have already committed to going further by introducing a targeted Scottish child payment premium for children under the age of one, increasing the total payment to £40 per week during 2027-28, benefiting an estimated 12,000 children and providing enhanced support in the first crucial year of a child’s life.
We have also committed to investing more than £27 million in welfare, income maximisation and debt advice services over the next two years, which is expected to support at least 80,000 households annually.
Although we encouraged more ambitious reform to the child maintenance system, the UK Government has failed to act. As a result, we will make further targeted investment, providing up to £275,000 to One Parent Families Scotland and Fife Gingerbread to help more separated families to secure regular and reliable child maintenance payments.
“Bringing Hope, Building Futures” reinforces our commitment to supporting children and families to thrive. That includes our continued investment in our Scottish attainment challenge and free school meals. Today, I confirm two further steps. First, we will expand the reach of the family nurse partnership programme, so that up to an additional 500 young parents can benefit from that trusted support next year. Secondly, we will invest a further £1 million to expand the successful MCR Pathways school-based mentoring programme, so that up to 5,500 care-experienced and disadvantaged young people can benefit across Scotland.
Providing support in a way that is joined up, easy to navigate and responsive to need is essential. I saw exactly that earlier this week, when the First Minister and I visited CentreStage, which brings to life what is possible when we work together across organisations and sectors.
Building on such approaches, as well as the £50 million of whole family wellbeing funding that has already been committed, the budget includes a £20 million whole family support third sector delivery fund. The fund, which was launched today, will help to scale up support that wraps around families and their communities, with funding available to partners who can work nationally or across multiple local authority areas to deliver an integrated, person-centred approach. That has the potential to be truly transformational, enabling our vital third sector to scale up what we know works and providing a helping hand for families that connects them to the wider services that they need to thrive.
I am pleased to announce two further steps to strengthen support for families. First, we will invest an additional £2.2 million to double the coverage of whole family support in general practice in Glasgow, delivering targeted preventative support for 500 families. Secondly, we will invest up to £5 million in activity that seeks to make the best use of data to enable all families to receive the services and support that they need to thrive.
Beyond that, Social Security Scotland will play a key role by continuing its important work to share data, by strengthening how it proactively signposts clients to relevant support and advice services, and by building referral pathways with partners in the longer term.
I said at the beginning of my statement that eradicating child poverty is a national mission that belongs to us all. Ending child poverty cannot be achieved by Government alone—it requires all of Scotland to play its part, and the plan acts as a catalyst to accelerate progress ahead of 2030.
If returned after the Scottish elections, this Government commits to working with partners across Scotland to drive forward the change that is needed—strengthening the role of our vital third sector, engaging business through our investment and working hand in hand with Scotland’s local authorities and our national health service. Only by eradicating child poverty can we unlock Scotland’s full potential.
Scottish Government policies are estimated to keep 100,000 children, or one in every 10, out of relative poverty next year. That is the scale of the difference that we have made together in Scotland and the impact that our action can have against the strongest of headwinds. By taking forward the plan, which was laid in Parliament today, we can bring hope to families across Scotland and build futures that are free from the scourge of poverty.
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes, after which we will move on to the next item of business.
I thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of the statement. The Scottish National Party talks a good game on child poverty, but it has failed to back up those words with actions; it has failed to close the attainment gap, one in five children lives in poverty, and it has failed to make work a viable route out of poverty. Instead, it has funnelled billions into an ever-growing benefit bill.
What Scotland needs is a system that helps people to move beyond reliance on state support. Instead, under the current plan, the SNP appears to be content to manage poverty through a growing benefits budget, rather than tackling the structural issues that keep families trapped.
Many of the measures that have been announced in the statement sound good on paper, but, as we know, the SNP is often strong on rhetoric but light on delivery. The cabinet secretary is committed to increasing all benefits with inflation, but how much will that add to the already blooming benefit bill? How can the cabinet secretary justify that level of spending on social security when child poverty remains so high, and will the cabinet secretary address the underlying cause of poverty, rather than just diverting more and more public money into benefits?
I am not entirely sure that Alexander Stewart did not write that speech before he got my statement and this version of the plan. If he was remotely listening, particularly at the start of my statement, he would have heard that I talked about exactly how we were tackling the barriers that people face when they struggle to get into employment. I spoke about not just the £90 million—now with a multiyear commitment—for our employability service, but also the £19 million that is going into the transport to employment offer, and the £15 million for childcare for priority families that need that support to enter employment.
The speech, the statement and the plan are all about tackling the roots of poverty. I make no apology for lifting children out of poverty. That is the mission of this Government. [Interruption.]
Mr Stewart.
I admit that high-level modelling was done on the Tories’ plans when they said that they would put a two-child limit on the Scottish child payment that would mean an estimated 10,000 fewer children being lifted out of poverty.
The Tories are more interested in pushing children into poverty, but this Government will continue to lift children out of poverty. That is the ambition on delivery that the SNP Government has.
I remind members who wish to ask questions to press their request-to-speak button.
I apologise for forgetting to put my card in.
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of the statement and for the accompanying documents. The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 put a legal requirement on the Scottish ministers to meet the 2030 target. The Scottish Government was committed to meeting the target, regardless of international events or decisions made at UK level. There were no conditions attached to that target.
Last year, it was confirmed that the interim target had been missed, after many warnings that that would happen. Although any reduction in child poverty is to be welcomed, the reality is that there will be a reduction of 1 per cent in 20 years in relative child poverty. Given the lack of progress in the past 10 years, does the cabinet secretary believe that meeting the 2030 target is still credible? The First Minister told people this week to judge him in 2031 if the target is missed, but we should recognise the impact of the failure to meet the interim target, which is resulting in Herculean efforts being required over the next four years.
The Poverty and Inequality Commission said that, to meet the 2030 target, we need three or four measures on the scale of the Scottish child payment. Does the cabinet secretary believe that the plan delivers that? The removal of the two-child cap by the UK Labour Government will have a positive effect. Significant funding earmarked for mitigation has also been released. What additional measures in the action plan has the money been used for? If the money had not been released, what resources were planned for the child poverty action plan?
I refer Claire Baker to annex 1 of the plan, which details how the two-child limit payment allocation has been invested. I mentioned some of that in my statement. There is £50 million for the whole family support package, the new £20 million whole family support for the third sector delivery fund, the flexible workforce development fund and the additional money for the child poverty fund, which will tackle additional childcare support. Annex 1 includes further detail on that.
The Government recognises that any child in poverty is one child too many, which is why there is no complacency on our part. We are very clear that there has been progress. Scottish Government policies are estimated to keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty in 2026-27. That is due to the Government delivering over a variety of projects and policies. It is important that we also take cognisance of the fact that Scottish Government policies are estimated to keep 70,000 children out of deep poverty next year.
I recognise the scale of the challenge that we face and that it is the Scottish Government’s responsibility to meet those targets. I wish that we had a UK Labour Government that matched our scale of ambition; unfortunately, that is not what we saw when the UK Government’s much-delayed plan was eventually delivered. In saying that, though, we continue to commit to delivery and action, as I have set out in the plan today.
Westminster’s cost of living crisis is hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. On top of ever-increasing energy costs, households across East Lothian continue to suffer from cruel policies such as the benefit cap and the bedroom tax. Will the cabinet secretary tell Parliament how actions in the plan will further mitigate UK Labour’s cruel austerity measures?
Paul McLennan is right to point out the UK Government’s choice to continue some of the policies of previous Conservative Governments that, to me, exemplify austerity. We look at the amount that we are spending on the benefit cap, the bedroom tax and, as announced today, the further £9 million through discretionary housing payments to support 18,000 families. We would not have had to fund that, and could have spent that money in other ways, if the UK Labour Government had not frozen the local housing allowance, but that was its choice. We would not have had to fund the work that we are doing to assist One Parent Families Scotland if the UK Government, in its child poverty strategy, had delivered reform of child maintenance services. Once again, when we consider how much we are spending on mitigation—a record £159 million next year—that is investment that we are making to pick up the pieces of a Government that has failed to deliver at a UK level.
I welcome the focus on parental employment. As the cabinet secretary will know, I have been asking for that focus for the past four years, so I am happy to see that the cabinet secretary has finally taken my advice.
The statement highlights that today’s announcements build on approaches that include the whole family wellbeing fund and whole family support. The cabinet secretary will be aware that there is fragmented funding across Scotland when it comes to the whole family wellbeing fund, so what steps is the Government taking to ensure that money that is already allocated is making a difference for families across the whole of Scotland and not just those in certain pockets and in the central belt?
To be clear, the money does not just go to the central belt. A number of local authorities, both urban and rural, wish to take part in the fairer futures partnerships, for example. In Edinburgh today, the First Minister and I saw yet another example of a local authority using Scottish Government funding and its own innovation to deliver whole family support. We will continue to make sure, through the oversight that comes with my responsibility for tackling child poverty, that whole family support is delivered.
I will be generous and acknowledge the fact that Roz McCall thinks that I listened to her advice. However, the minor detail is that she did not follow that up and vote for the funding in the budget. Here we go once again—Roz McCall is claiming some success because, at some point, I have listened to her wise words, but she actually forgot to vote for the budget to deliver it. That is a key responsibility of parliamentarians, which she failed to deliver on.
There is much to welcome in the statement. I will focus on the Scottish child payment, which, from April, will be £28.20 per child per week in qualifying households and, in particular, on the targeted child payment premium of £40 a week for a child under the age of one.
I will give the cabinet secretary the facts of real life. As at 31 December 2025, in Midlothian, 6,245 children were benefiting from the Scottish child payment; in the Borders, the figure is 5,775. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that is an investment for each child—12,020 children—in their wellbeing and their future prospects and, indeed, in the future prospects of Scotland itself?
Can I make a plea at this stage, as I am conscious of the time and the number of members who still wish to ask a question, for more succinct questions and answers?
Christine Grahame points to the delivery by the Scottish Government and the real impact that it makes across Scotland. All members can reflect on the number of families who are benefiting from the Scottish child payment. The payment impacts on their wellbeing and, of course, there are implications for the future of Scotland as well.
The SNP went into the 2021 election promising universal free school meals for all primary pupils. When in government, the roll-out to all primary 1 to primary 7 children was promised by August 2022, but thousands of children are still waiting, years later. Does the cabinet secretary agree with the education secretary, who admitted this week that school meal debt is still an issue and a burden that no child or family should face? Does the cabinet secretary accept that the support from the school meal debt fund is a sticking plaster, and can she advise the Parliament when—
That is enough questions.
—the SNP will fulfil its promise to Scotland’s children?
It is not three, four or five questions: it is one question.
I am very proud of what the Scottish Government has delivered with the universal provision up to P6, our work to deliver based on Scottish child payment eligibility in P6 and P7, and the work of the pilots in our secondary schools.
I am particularly proud that the education secretary has announced this week that school meal debt has been scrapped. That shows that, once again, the Scottish Government is delivering for families across Scotland. We know that times are difficult for them, and we have delivered to help them with that.
It is hugely encouraging to hear about the ambitious action that the SNP Government is taking through its delivery plan, and I welcome the breadth of the measures that have been detailed by the cabinet secretary. The First Minister has made it clear that ending child poverty is the Government’s number 1 mission. Will the cabinet secretary set out the Government’s progress and how the framework will drive further improvements?
Because of the Scottish Government’s actions, the proportion of children in Scotland who are living in relative poverty has reduced, with the 2023-24 rate being the lowest it has been in a decade. Rates of both relative and absolute child poverty were 9 percentage points lower than the UK average in 2023-24.
Our new plan takes on further work and delivers new policies that will assist us to meet our final targets. It is backed by considerable investment, including the more than £111 million that is in the tackling child poverty fund and whole family support funding. In their totality, the actions in the plan will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty next year.
The Poverty and Inequality Commission has told us that we will not meet the 2030 targets without additional social security support. Scottish Parliament information centre analysis shows that, on its own, the Scottish child payment does not really tackle the increasing deep poverty that children and families face.
The minimum income guarantee was a big idea for tackling poverty, and the minimum income guarantee expert group provided proposals last year showing how we could provide a top-up benefit to guarantee everyone a minimum dignified income. However, the minimum income guarantee appears nowhere in either the statement or the plan. Has the Scottish Government given up on its minimum income guarantee idea?
I was very grateful for the work that the expert group undertook to look at a minimum income guarantee. Although it raised some challenges and recommendations for the Scottish Government—and, indeed, the next Scottish Government—in relation to first steps on that, it also highlighted the fact that, in the current devolutionary set-up, we do not have the powers to have a minimum income guarantee in Scotland.
However, in this plan we have looked not only at social security and income through social security—for example, through the premium for under-ones—but at the root causes of poverty, which is why there has been such a focus on additional investment in employability and on the barriers that might prevent someone from getting into, or staying in, employment.
On the issue of deep poverty, I point to the fact that Scottish Government policies are estimated to keep 70,000 children out of deep poverty in 2026-27.
The cabinet secretary should have admitted that the Government has failed to meet its target on the poverty-related attainment gap and has also failed to meet the interim target on child poverty. However, I welcome the Wise Group’s relational mentoring service, work on the ready for industry, success and excellence—RISE—programme in colleges and the new flexible workforce development fund. Are those developments an indication of a new direction of travel for Government policy on tackling child poverty, with a focus on work and employment?
That focus has always been there, as is demonstrated by the fact that previous plans have also looked at the root causes of poverty and how to tackle them. The drivers in this plan are very similar to those in the previous plan, and that is because stakeholders have told us that those are the right areas to focus on.
I welcome Mr Rennie’s comments on the Wise Group funding and on RISE, which is a very good example of the college sector coming forward with a proactive suggestion that is to do not only with skills but with childcare and transport. That is the way in which the plan has been developed, and that is the way in which the Government and ministers have worked together with others to tackle barriers in order to make the most of employability efforts and the most of our college sector. I hope that, when Mr Rennie has more time to go through and reflect on the plan, he will see more examples of that.
I welcome the delivery plan and the impact that these measures will have on households in my constituency. Will the cabinet secretary set out more detail of the employability support and how parents in Clydebank and Milngavie will be supported to increase their income through work, as well as through access to expanded training opportunities?
I mentioned some of those measures in the answer that I just gave to Willie Rennie, but I will point again to the £9 million going to colleges through the RISE initiative, which will support up to 2,400 parents to access skills and education, as well as the new training access fund and the flexible workforce development fund. That support will benefit people not only in the member’s constituency but across Scotland. Along with our investment in transport and childcare, it will help more parents to enter and progress through the workforce and to increase their earned incomes. That is an important part of the plan.
Conservative members want to tackle the root causes of child poverty, and I was pleased to hear the emphasis that the cabinet secretary gave to programmes that support employment and upskilling, as we recognise that the most effective route out of poverty is through sustained employment and upskilling.
The statement is long and detailed. How much of the spending that the cabinet secretary announced is genuinely new funding? How much of it is simply a repackaging? Will she commit to publishing outcomes for the initiatives that she included in her statement? Not all of them were accompanied by specific outcomes.
It is pleasing that Mr Kerr reflected on the fact that the statement is long and detailed—as, indeed, is the action plan that goes with it—because there are a great deal of new announcements in it. For the sake of time, I will not go through them all, but there are particular announcements on the different packages that have been sustained and developed and then the new initiatives through our tackling child poverty fund and the whole family investment. As I said, there is also an annex on the two-child limit mitigation that breaks down exactly how that funding will be spent.
I am sure that Mr Kerr has just forgotten that there is an annual statement on the child poverty work, in which we set out the outcomes delivered by that work. I look forward to the Government delivering that statement when we return in June.
I can squeeze in Mr Kidd if his question is brief and the answer is succinct.
Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting young people from the Child Poverty Action Group’s cost of the school day voice network in Parliament to discuss their manifesto. I must say that they made a lot more sense than many adults—which members have heard before—by stressing the need to ensure that children and young people are involved in shaping policy.
Can we have a question please, Mr Kidd?
Will the cabinet secretary say how we can ensure that children’s and young people’s voices are properly heard and how the new third sector fund will act as a new door?
The new third sector fund will be a national front door to public services throughout Scotland. That is one example—but only one—of how the voices of children and young people have shaped the approach. I thank Young Scot, the Child Poverty Action Group and Aberlour Children’s Charity. We engaged with children and young people directly at official and ministerial levels to hear from them about what they wanted to see in their plan. I hope that, as well as its being a Scottish Government publication, they feel that it is their plan, because it is the Government delivering for them and for the future of Scotland.
That concludes the statement. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business.
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