Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2026 [Draft]
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.