CHILD poverty campaigners hailed Nicola Sturgeon’s pledge to introduce new legislation to tackle the “deep-rooted” causes of inequality for the first time in Scotland’s history as “excellent news”.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the move yesterday while also re-appointing Naomi Eisenstadt as the independent child poverty adviser. A consultation setting out proposals for the new Scottish Poverty Bill will be published over the summer, building on the existing work from the government’s Child Poverty Strategy 2014-2017.
Child Poverty Action group (CPAG) in Scotland welcomed the Bill aimed at enshrining in legislation the Scottish Government’s commitment to eradicating child poverty.
John Dickie, the charity’s director, said: “This is excellent news in the drive to eradicate child poverty given the UK Government’s abandonment of statutory child poverty commitments.
“With one in five of Scotland’s children still living in poverty it is vital that the new bill includes ambitious targets as well as duties to measure and report on progress and a strategic framework that will hold national and local government to account.”
The group had called for a Child Poverty Act in its pre-election manifesto. It believes that the proposed Bill should set out ambitious child poverty targets for the reduction and eradication of child poverty, produce regular national child poverty strategies and report annually on key income deprivation of child poverty, as well as force local authorities and public bodies to set out key objectives to address the problem.
Dickie added: “Legislation in itself won’t end the poverty that scars the lives of so many of our children but it will help ensure child poverty remains a top priority and that every level of government in Scotland can be held to account for the progress it is making.”
Poverty Alliance, another group from the End Child Poverty campaign, also welcomed the announcement, calling for a broad strategy to tackle poverty of all forms.
The group’s director Peter Kelly said: “We need focused and coordinated action to reduce poverty in Scotland, and setting out in law what needs to be done will help bring about that action.
“If we are really to make progress towards eradicating child poverty then we need a comprehensive national anti-poverty strategy that involves all parts and layers of government.”
Sturgeon said the new laws would “improve life chances for every Scottish child” and tackle “deep-rooted” causes of child poverty.
The Scottish Government has previously rejected the UK Government’s decision to abandon income-based child poverty targets, and is seeking to develop Scottish laws after the UK Government repealed large parts of the existing UK-wide legislation.
Sturgeon added: “It is simply unacceptable that children are growing up in poverty and we must do all we can to tackle the inequality that still exists in 21st century Scotland.
“While we have made progress as a government through the Child Poverty Strategy, it’s clear from feedback from my independent poverty advisor Naomi Eisenstadt and others that we must keep striving to do more and we need to do more to enshrine our distinctly Scottish approach in law.
“The consultation and bill will allow us to refine our approach and ensure it best meets the needs of those who so desperately need it and I am delighted to announce it on the same day as I announce Naomi’s reappointment. Her work has provided hugely valuable insight into our proposals in tackling inequality and given the Scottish Government a clear focus for going forward.”
Eisenstadt said: “Everyone in Scotland has a role to play in helping to eradicate child poverty, and a new Child Poverty Bill is a positive, practical and constructive step forward.”
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