Targets for ending child poverty revealed by Scottish Government

Child poverty - credit Fotolia

The Scottish Government has set out plans to end child poverty in Scotland using new legislation at Holyrood.

A consultation for the new Child Poverty Bill was launched this morning, which outlined key targets ministers hope to achieve by 2030.

These include having fewer than 10 per cent of children living in relative poverty and five per cent in absolute poverty in 14 years.

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Relative poverty represents earnings of less than 60 per cent of the national average. Absolute poverty is less than 60 per cent of the 1999 average.

This 2030 calculation would be made after housing costs have been deducted, which makes the targets more ambitious than those set in 2010 by the UK Government which were then scrapped by the Conservatives.

They can be achieved by enshrining family incomes in law, the document suggests.

Whether such targets are feasible is now the subject of the consultation, as well as whether there might be more effective ways of measuring poverty.

Recommendations from independent poverty advisor Naomi Eisenstadt, who was reappointed last month, are also included in the document.

Equality secretary Angela Constance announced the consultation at a Dundee programme to provide meals and activities for families who need it in the summer holidays.

“This isn’t only a job for Government,” she said.

“The ambition to tackle child poverty must be shared across the whole of Scotland. I want to talk about how we can work together with local governments, businesses and the third sector, but most importantly with people who experience poverty.”