Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Official Report 1104KB pdf

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Child Poverty

The next item of business is a statement by Shirley-Anne Somerville on the tackling child poverty delivery plan annual progress report for 2023-24. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.

14:24  

Eradicating child poverty is this Government’s defining mission. As the First Minister has made clear since his appointment in May, our ambition is not to tackle or reduce child poverty but to eradicate it completely. There will never be an acceptable number of children in poverty.

Today, I have published the Scottish Government’s annual progress report on child poverty for 2023-24. It reflects the latest update in the implementation of “Best Start, Bright Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-2026” and the latest data on poverty levels, which we published in March. The Poverty and Inequality Commission has also published its annual scrutiny, for which I am grateful. We will give careful and on-going consideration to its recommendations.

Our ambition to eradicate child poverty requires each and every one of us in the chamber to work together, because, when it comes to tackling poverty, which is something that we should all have common cause and common purpose in, the past year has been one of considerable challenge. Families have continued to experience the devastating consequences of 14 years of austerity, Brexit sending prices soaring and the United Kingdom Government’s economic mismanagement and harmful welfare policies. The costs of essential goods are still much higher than they were three years ago and continue to rise.

Although the Scottish National Party Government is pulling out all the stops to protect people from cruel Westminster decisions, our powers remain severely limited. We are acting with one hand tied behind our back, which prevents us from investing as much as we would like in our vital public services and going further with anti-poverty measures. Against the most challenging financial settlement under devolution, this Government is delivering almost £3 billion to support people through the cost of living crisis and £134 million in 2024-25 to combat Westminster austerity through mitigations.

Our support for children in low-income households has continued to rise, increasing to almost £1.4 billion in the past year. To put that in context, it is more than two and a half times the amount that we invested in 2018-19, which was the first year following the passing of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill.

Let me be very clear. When we choose to invest, our support is consistently undermined by Westminster’s punitive policies. When we choose the Scottish child payment, the UK Government chooses a two-child cap. When we choose to roll out the carer support payment, the Department for Work and Pensions forces carers to repay £250 million. When we choose to deliver the independent living fund, the UK Government plans a £4 billion cut to welfare support.

Options were limited when our budget for 2023-24 was slashed by the Tory Government. The block grant was worth 4.8 per cent less than it was in 2022-23, when the budget was set. As such, we have had to make difficult decisions to prioritise our limited resources where they can have the greatest impact.

Today’s report also presents the latest data on child poverty relating to 2022-23. Poverty levels are considered to be broadly stable when looking at a three-year average, with levels remaining above the interim targets that were set. Although single-year figures show a rise in child poverty across three measures, including relative poverty, it is important to note that those figures do not yet capture the full impact of the expansion of the game-changing Scottish child payment and its increase to £25 per week from November 2022.

We know that our action is making a difference. Modelling that was published in February estimates that our policies will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year, with levels of relative poverty 10 percentage points lower than they would otherwise have been.

This year’s annual progress report on child poverty marks the mid-point of “Best Start, Bright Futures”. Of the 108 actions reported on, 60 are complete or are delivering at scale, which is an increase of 20 on the same time last year. A further 34 actions are in progress and nine are in the early stages of development. Over the past year, our policies have continued to make a real difference to people’s lives.

Throughout 2023, the SNP Government continued to provide immediate support through the likes of our game-changing Scottish child payment, awarding almost £430 million to families. More than 329,000 children had benefited from that unique Scottish support as of 31 March this year.

Having already increased our Scottish child payment in value by 25 per cent from November 2022, we increased the value of all other benefits by 10.1 per cent from April 2023, ensuring that families keep their real-terms buying power. Of course, our Scottish child payment is part of a wider package that includes the three best start grants and best start foods, which, since launch, have provided more than £829 million in vital financial support at key moments in a child’s life. In Scotland, there is no cap on the number of children in one family who can receive those payments—and, under an SNP Government, there never will be.

As a result of our decisions to protect the most vulnerable, our total investment in social security benefits and payments increased to an estimated £5.3 billion in 2023-24. That is over £890 million more than is received from the UK Government for social security.

We continue to build on the progress to date. In February, we widened eligibility for best start foods. We removed income thresholds from qualifying benefits so that an estimated 20,000 more children and pregnant women can benefit. We published new guidance to support local authorities in continuing to mitigate the benefit cap as fully as possible within the scope of devolved powers. It has been estimated that that will help more than 2,500 families with more than 8,900 children. Almost three quarters of those families are lone parent families.

Investment in front-line no one left behind employability services continued to grow, with more than 4,700 parents receiving support between April and December 2023. We continued to work to develop a system of school-age childcare to benefit around 4,400 children and support more parents to access employment. That is on top of continuing the provision of free bus travel for 727,000 children and young people.

In recognition of the importance of warm and affordable housing as the foundation for family life, we delivered a further 6,045 affordable homes across Scotland between April and December 2023, of which 4,358 were for social rent.

We have also continued our work that is focused on delivering transformational change in the longer term, including through our continued investment in the whole family wellbeing programme and through our place-based collaborations in Glasgow, Dundee and Clackmannanshire.

The First Minister has made it clear that eradicating child poverty is the Government’s driving mission. In the year ahead, we will unashamedly and relentlessly focus on delivering on existing investments as well as taking new steps on change required. Our action is underpinned by our progressive approach to taxation and strengthened by the Verity house agreement, which cements tackling child poverty as one of three strategic priorities with our local authority partners.

The report that was published today sets out priority actions that we will take to drive forward progress in eradicating child poverty, with further action to be set out in our forthcoming programme for government. However, we have already outlined some key steps.

Responding to the calls of the Aberlour Child Care Trust children’s charity and others, we have announced the opening of a £1.5 million fund that is focused on removing the burden of school meal debt from families. We have committed £16 million across this year and next year to expand access to childcare services within six early adopter community projects. That supports the development of local childcare systems that are designed to meet families’ needs.

The budget challenge that was faced last year has meant that it has not been possible to invest in all the action that we would have wished to invest in, and, with the UK Government’s spring budget delivering yet another hammer blow to Scotland’s finances, our policy ambitions face real challenges.

Last month, the Government declared a housing emergency in Scotland. Although we continue to do everything that we can within devolved powers to address levels of homelessness and deliver the supply of social and affordable housing, the reality of an almost 9 per cent cut to Scotland’s capital budget coupled with the impact of high inflation and Brexit is hampering our housing sector.

We have pledged to work constructively and in good faith with the UK Government and local authorities across Scotland to consider what more can be done. However, as a first step, an incoming UK Government must commit to reversing the cut to Scotland’s capital budget.

The challenges go deeper. Labour’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has said:

“all roads ... lead back to Westminster”.

Last month, the First Minister wrote to Sir Keir Starmer and called on him to commit to working with us in our ambition to eradicate child poverty, because the reality is that every progressive measure that is put in place in Scotland simply cannot go on being cancelled out by punitive Westminster welfare policies. We need the next UK Government, of whatever colour, to reset relations on welfare, to be bold, and to take early action to match Scotland’s ambition. That includes making key changes to welfare policies, such as by introducing an essentials guarantee and abolishing the two-child limit, which could lift an estimated 40,000 children in Scotland out of poverty overnight.

Eradicating child poverty is a moral imperative and an economic necessity. Our actions are making a difference, with modelling estimating that 100,000 children will be kept out of poverty this year through our policies. However, we must continue to go further and faster to deliver the change that is needed ahead of 2030.

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 need to move on to the next item of business.

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement.

We all agree that the levels of child poverty in Scotland remain stubbornly high. That is why, across Parliament, we have all supported actions and policies to help to direct support. As the cabinet secretary mentioned, the Scottish Government has declared a housing emergency, but I am disappointed that the statement contains very little reference—in fact, no reference—to the fact that, under the SNP Government, record numbers of children are trapped in temporary housing. The latest statistics suggest that almost 10,000 children are living in temporary accommodation across Scotland, with the most recent figures showing an increase of 735—8 per cent—on the previous year. That is a national scandal, on which ministers are failing to achieve any progress. Average temporary accommodation stays in most local authorities now exceed 100 days, the number of children in temporary accommodation is at a record high, and the SNP Government has cut the overall housing budget.

One aspect that the cabinet secretary did not mention is where local authorities are struggling to achieve any action. Why are local authorities saying that they cannot deliver their statutory duties because of this Government?

I thank Miles Briggs for the question. I hope that there is an opportunity for us—albeit perhaps not today—to come together and achieve some consensus on how we tackle child poverty. I would have hoped that that consensus would include the fact that we cannot have a 9 per cent cut to the capital budget and a reduction of almost 60 per cent in financial transactions for 2024-25 and not see an implication for how we would like to spend our money. I would be more than happy to work with Miles Briggs and others on what the Scottish Government is doing, but we have to see that financial context.

I also point out to Miles Briggs the money that we have to take out of our budget to mitigate Westminster welfare policies, including the £90 million in discretionary housing payments to mitigate the UK Government’s bedroom tax and the benefit cap. I would love to be able to have a conversation with Miles Briggs about what other anti-poverty measures we could implement with £90 million if we were not mitigating Westminster.

I say to Miles Briggs, and indeed to everyone else who will be taking part from the Conservative and Labour parties, that my door is open to hear how they would wish to spend the money. I wish and I hope that they can collaborate with the Scottish Government to ensure that there is an end to the cuts in our budget, both capital and revenue.

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement.

When Scottish Labour left office in 2007, we had brought down relative child poverty after housing costs, from 31 per cent to 24 per cent, and the previous UK Labour Government lifted 1 million children out of poverty. After 17 years of an SNP Government since then, the relative child poverty rate is still at 24 per cent—it is static—yet the figures appear to be hailed as a success in today’s statement. That is a particular indictment on the party in government, which has made a virtue of bold rhetoric on eradicating child poverty, yet has failed to make progress under successive leaders.

Members will not hear any complaint from me on the point that the Tories have been a disaster for working families. It is clear that people will have a chance to pass their verdict on the Tory Government in a number of weeks, but the Scottish Government must answer for its policies here today.

The number for in-work poverty has risen from 51 per cent to 70 per cent in the past 17 years. Would the Government therefore recognise that we need a new deal for working people? We need to make work pay. We need to ensure that people have their rights at work, so that we can lift more children out of poverty. On the poverty targets, which I did not hear very much about from the cabinet secretary today—

Briefly.

Are those targets non-negotiable? Is the cabinet secretary still committed to meeting those child poverty targets?

On the poverty targets, yes—we are absolutely committed to the interim targets and the final targets.

Again, I offer to work with Paul O’Kane and the Labour Party. With the greatest of respect, however, there are trade unions that now have the fear that Labour is backing away at a UK level about its fair work policies, because it is tacking to the right. Rachel Reeves and others continue to insist that they will hold to the fiscal plans of the Tories.

With the best will in the world, I am not entirely sure what the change will be, because if any new Labour Government is not going to show up with an emergency budget with some real change in it, the Scottish Government will once again be protecting families here in Scotland while Labour does nothing.

I am afraid that, as night follows day, every Labour Government is followed by a Conservative Government. Mr O’Kane might wish to go back to the past, when Labour was last in charge. However, after that period, we then had austerity, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. We need independence in order to make a real difference in tackling child poverty.

For the remainder of this item, I ask that members listen to the questions and the responses with equal respect.

The Social Justice and Social Security Committee has heard that those living in persistent or deep poverty have been helped greatly by the Scottish child payment, but it has also heard that that is not necessarily being monitored. Given that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has indicated that, at a UK level, millions of people are in poverty and that millions more are teetering on the brink, does the cabinet secretary agree that it is important that the Scottish Government gathers the evidence base on the positive impact of the Scottish child payment to inform the tackling child poverty delivery plan? Does she agree with those who have suggested that a comparative UK study into tackling child poverty would also be welcome?

Bob Doris raises an important point. We have heard directly from families, and I hear on the visits that I attend—in fact, the First Minister and I were at a nursery in Bonnington this morning—about the difference that the Scottish child payment and other policies have made.

However, we know that it is important that we look at that independently and using academic sources. I am pleased that, for example, Professor Danny Dorling is demonstrating through his work the real difference that the Scottish child payment has made. He has said that it is one of the biggest changes in tackling child poverty in Europe in the past 40 years.

We would very much welcome independent analysis of the impact of the Scottish child payment, so that we can show the UK Government, of whatever persuasion, that impact in the hope of demonstrating to it why it should be following our lead.

The cabinet secretary will be aware that supporting more parents to access employment is a tried and tested route out of poverty, but it is sadly lacking from the statement, with only a brief comment about employability services, which this Government has cut to the tune of £53 million. I note the single line on school-age childcare and young people’s bus travel. Based on the cabinet secretary’s recent press release in the Dunfermline Press, she is well aware of the limitations of suitable transport to our colleges. With funding cuts to colleges and reduced courses, and now the possible closure of the University of the Highlands and Islands’ Perth nursery, how can the Scottish Government claim to be eradicating child poverty when it will not address the three barriers to parental employment?

It was only a 10-minute statement, so I am more than happy to go into detail in a future meeting with Roz McCall about the work that we are undertaking on employability, fair work and early learning and childcare. The member is absolutely right to point out that we need to support families not just through social security, important though that is; we also need to ensure that people are supported to get into the labour market, and, when they do so, that they have work that pays the real living wage.

With the best will in the world, that is the second Conservative MSP to take part and I have already been asked to spend more on housing, further education and transport. I will endeavour to get back to every MSP who wants me to spend more money, and I look forward to working with them in the run-up to the next budget about how we take up that challenge together.

We need a little bit more brevity with the questions and, indeed, with the responses.

The two-child limit on benefits is one of the biggest policy drivers of child poverty, according to Barnardo’s chief executive, Lynn Perry. However, Keir Starmer, the next expected Prime Minister, will not scrap that, despite former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently noting that there are “obscene” levels of child poverty in the UK. Will the cabinet secretary outline how that damaging policy continues to hinder the Scottish Government’s efforts to tackle child poverty, and how much further we could go if we were an independent country?

The member is quite right to point out that that policy is causing real damage across the country. It is estimated that families in Scotland have lost £341 million since the policy’s inception in 2016-17.

When Sir Keir Starmer is further to the right than Suella Braverman is on the issue, we really are through the looking glass. We have been able to demonstrate that we have lifted 100,000 children out of poverty through the Scottish Government’s actions. The Child Poverty Action Group has said that ending the two-child limit and providing an essentials guarantee would lift a further 40,000 children out of poverty—if only there was someone inhabiting number 10 who would take that forward.

There are, of course, symptoms and causes of child poverty. Has the Scottish Government modelled the impact of local authority funding on the tackling child poverty delivery plan?

As I said in my statement, we work very closely with local authorities, because responsibility for tackling child poverty lies not only with the Scottish Government but with our local authority partners and, indeed, the UK Government. As we have gone through difficult budgets over the past few years, we have still provided local authorities with a fair settlement to ensure that they can carry out their statutory obligations. As I said in my statement, through the Verity house agreement, I look forward to continuing that work with local authority partners.

Increasing family incomes from work and earnings is a key component in achieving a balanced and sustainable approach to breaking the cycle of child poverty in Scotland. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the devolution of employment law to the Scottish Parliament is vital in enabling us to address child poverty through parental employment?

Bill Kidd makes a very fair point. He will be aware of the work within the Scottish Government’s control that we have been undertaking. For example, there is conditionality in relation to public sector grants, and, through Scottish Government support, up to 100,000 staff in social care, children’s services and early learning and childcare have benefited from a wage uplift to at least £12 an hour since April, which could make a difference of more than £2,000 a year for some staff, mostly women.

However, when we have the challenge of employment law being reserved to Westminster, with the action that is needed on that front not being taken, that makes the situation more difficult. We will continue to do what we can, with the powers that we have, to work with employers, because they can also see the benefit of fair work in relation to growing the economy.

Scottish Government figures show that take-up of benefits such as the Scottish child payment is lower in rural areas, including Aberdeenshire in the north-east. Ruth Boyle from the Poverty Alliance recently highlighted that fact at a meeting of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, and she noted that the cost of living is 15 to 30 per cent higher in those areas, too. What action is the Scottish Government taking to tackle that rural premium and to ensure that take-up of benefits in those areas improves, so that we can tackle rural child poverty?

It is important that our policies work for all of Scotland. Maggie Chapman has raised very important points on benefit take-up and other aspects of tackling poverty. We are the only country in the UK to have a benefit take-up strategy and to have action leading from that, because we need to ensure that everyone who is eligible for a benefit is encouraged and supported to take it up. The strategy details some of the on-going work, including the funded projects to ensure that people take up benefits in greater numbers, and we are seeing increased take-up through the Scottish child payment and the automation of best start grants. As always, I am happy to work with Maggie Chapman to see what more can be done in that area.

Through modelling, the Scottish Government has found that devolved interventions such as the Scottish child payment and free school meal provision might be keeping an estimated 100,000 children out of poverty this year. Do the findings of the progress report support that estimate? Is the cabinet secretary confident that Scottish Government policies are changing hundreds of thousands of lives for the better and that that would not be happening if those measures were not in place?

The progress report makes it clear that children are benefiting from a wide range of action. For example, 97 per cent of all three and four-year-olds are benefiting from funded childcare, which would cost families about £5,500 a year if they had to pay for it themselves. Earlier, I mentioned the number of children who are benefiting from the Scottish child payment. Those policies are making a real difference. Indeed, the Child Poverty Action Group estimates that families in Scotland will be about £28,000 better off by the time their child turns 18 as a result of the more generous support and lower childcare costs in Scotland. However, we are not complacent, because we know that more still needs to be done.

The cross-party group on poverty’s recent report on rural poverty highlighted that access to childcare is a significant challenge for rural and island families. It is both a driver of poverty and a source of stress for families experiencing poverty who require childcare in order to work. The report concluded that key rural policy needs to be

“developed with an anti-poverty lens”.

In light of that and in addition to the early adopter community projects, what action can the Scottish Government take in tackling child poverty to improve access to childcare in rural and island areas?

Beatrice Wishart raises a very important point that is in a similar vein to the question that Maggie Chapman asked in that it is about ensuring that the policies work for the whole of Scotland, but this time particularly around childcare. We are keen to ensure that we achieve flexibility. Local authorities have a great deal of responsibility to ensure that they are delivering in their areas, but there is also a responsibility on us. I am sure that Ms Wishart will be interested in the work that is being done on, for example, increasing the number of childminders, because that work, particularly in rural and island communities, might be beneficial. I am happy to ensure that we provide Beatrice Wishart with further updates on the work that is going on in relation to childminding, on which there will be announcements in due course.

For the past eight years, I have seen cabinet secretaries come and go, and they keep promising that we will have free school meals for all children in Scotland, but the date keeps getting pushed back further and further. When will that be delivered?

I am sure that Mr Balfour will be pleased to have me back in the social justice area, so that he can once again hear from me the Government’s commitment to free school meals. As Mr Balfour is well aware, we have the most generous provision in the United Kingdom. In the 2024-25 budget, there is £43 million of capital support to ensure that we are delivering on the next part of our expansion, which will be for those who receive the Scottish child payment and who are in primary 6 and primary 7. I look forward to hearing Mr Balfour’s congratulations when we move forward with that policy.

In addition to the points about benefit take-up, will the cabinet secretary comment on how the delivery plan is working to tackle the specific issues of hidden poverty for children and young people in rural areas, including Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders, given that research, including the “10,000 Voices” report by the D and G youth council, has shown that young people in rural areas are disproportionately impacted by poverty?

That is another very important point about ensuring that our policies impact well on rural and island communities. Emma Harper will be well aware of the £5 million of capital funding to local authorities to improve local bus services, with greater levels of funding allocated to rural areas. She will also be aware that, in rural and island areas, the Scottish Government has delivered 10,000 homes to ensure that we are supporting families right across the country.

The Scottish child payment, which is now £26.70 a week per child, has helped to reduce child poverty by 100,000 this past year. Has Labour indicated whether, if it wins the general election, it will mimic the payment elsewhere in the UK? That policy would lift children across the UK out of poverty and deliver Barnett consequentials to enable the Scottish Government to do much more.

Not only has Labour not said that it would deliver a Scottish child payment or anything like that; it has not set out one change that would happen to welfare policies, whether for children, lone parents or the disabled. That is one area where there is real concern that, although the Government may be changing, the narrative and the script are not, which is why the First Minister wrote to Sir Keir Starmer earlier this month to invite him to work together. I absolutely stand by that, and I have made that invitation directly to the Labour Party, too—we will work with anyone. It is unfortunate that, as far as I am aware, the First Minister has received no reply.

That concludes this item of business. There will be a brief pause before we move on to the next item of business, to allow members on the front benches to change.