Meeting of the Parliament 11 June 2024
What has made the actions of the Government more difficult is its priorities and the way in which it has chosen to spend the record block grant from the UK Government to the Scottish Government. It is up to the SNP to decide what its priorities are, and if its priority is eradicating child poverty, it needs to deliver that.
Presiding Officer, I have taken a number of interventions, so I will close by saying that the First Minister says that he has made eradicating child poverty his top priority, but the record of the SNP Government, in which he has served and which he now leads, does not give us much hope. Targets have been missed, sufficient progress has not been made and the focus has been elsewhere. If eradicating child poverty is to be the main aim of his premiership, it needs to be borne out in actions rather than just words. He cannot point the finger elsewhere, as we have seen him do during the debate already. He must use the powers of the Parliament and the resources of his Government to achieve it. There is clear consensus on that and we will hear more in the debate across the chamber about how we need to reduce poverty levels and eradicate the child poverty that we see in Scotland.
While we all speak warm words today, what hungry, cold and homeless children need in Scotland now is action. Let us deliver a better future for today’s children and a better country for generations to come.
I move amendment S6M-13566.3, to leave out from “warns” to end and insert:
“notes that around 24% of children live in poverty in Scotland and that this rate has remained largely unchanged since 2007; recognises that the number of children in temporary accommodation has reached over 9,000, which is an 8% increase on the previous figure; calls on the Scottish Government to use the powers that it has to take action, rather than produce more strategies, to tackle child poverty; notes that the Scottish Government has abandoned plans to close the poverty-related attainment gap and that its plans to roll out free childcare have been described as ‘fragile’; agrees that the Scottish Government has failed to deliver all of the devolved benefits that could help tackle child poverty; regrets that the Scottish Government is reportedly returning £450 million of EU structural funds that could be used to tackle child poverty, and calls on the Scottish Government to work constructively with the UK Government to ensure that all children get the best start in life.”
14:49
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.