Order, Order.

We turn now to a Stage 1 Debate on SB237 in the name of Forward. The question is that this Parliament approves the general principles of the Child Poverty Reduction (Scotland) Bill

Child Poverty Reduction (Scotland) Bill

An Act of the Scottish Parliament to establish targets for reducing child poverty, to establish a Child Poverty Commission, and for connected purposes.

Be it passed by this Parliament and assented to by His Majesty as follows:-

Section 1: Definitions

(1) In this Act, unless specified otherwise;

(2) The ‘early target date’ refers to the date of January 1st 2030

(3) The ‘planned target date’ refers to the date of January 1st 2032

(4) The ‘late target date’ refers to the date of December 31st 2035

(5) A ‘Delivery Plan’ refers to the plans as established under Section 3

(6) A ‘Child’ or ‘Children’ refers to anybody who has not achieved the age of sixteen years and a day

(7) A ‘Parent’ refers to an individual who has primary care over a child.

(8) ‘Relative poverty’ refers to a household where the net income for the year is less than 60% of the median net household income for the year

(9) ‘Absolute poverty’ refers to a household where the net income for the year is less than 60% of the amount of median net household income for the financial year beginning with April 1st 2014, as adjusted by the CPI rate of inflation since that financial year.

(a) Scottish Ministers may, by order in the negative procedure, substitute a different date for subsection 9

(10) ‘Persistent poverty’ refers to a household where the net income for the given years are less than 60% of the median net household income for the given years

(a) The given years refer to the financial year of that year and the four previous financial years

(11) The ‘target’ refers to the percentages established under section 2(1)

(12) The ‘commission’ refers to the body established under section 5

Section 2: The Targets

(1) Scottish Ministers must ensure that by the planned target date;

(a) less than 10% of children are in relative poverty

(b) less than 7% of children are in absolute poverty

(c) less than 5% of children are in persistent poverty

(2) Scottish Ministers are to aim to meet the targets by the early target date

(3) In the event that the early target date cannot be achieved with respect to the targets, Scottish Ministers must give a statement to the Scottish Parliament outlining whether the Scottish Ministers believe that the planned target date is achievable or whether the late target date is to be used instead.

(4) If the Scottish Ministers believe that the planned target date is insufficient to meet the targets, they must make a statement to the Scottish Parliament outlining the reasons why they believe that the planned target date cannot be met and what action they are taking to ensure it is met by the late target date.

(a) In the event that a Scottish Minister has given such a statement, they are to consider that subsection 1 refers to the late target date in place of the planned target date

(b) Scottish Ministers may only give such a statement if the date of April 1st 2028 has been achieved

(5) By April 1st 2028, the Scottish Ministers are to aim to meet interim targets of;

(a) less than 15% of children being in relative poverty

(b) less than 10% of children being in absolute poverty

(c) less than 10% of children being in persistent poverty

Section 3: Delivery Plans

(1) The Scottish Ministers are to prepare a plan or plans that would realistically ensure that the targets are achieved by the planned target date

(a) The first plan published by the Scottish Ministers must be published one year after the passage of this Act under subsection 7

(2) These plans must set out;

(a) ‘Phases’ of the plans

(b) The measures that the Scottish Ministers propose to take during each phase to meet the targets

(c) An assessment of the contribution the proposed measures are expected to make to meeting the targets

(d) An explanation of how that assessment has been arrived at, and

(e) An assessment of the resources required to fund the proposed measures

(3) The delivery plan may include other information or plans as the Scottish Ministers consider necessary

(a) the Scottish Ministers must endeavour to avoid making plans with the intention of requesting further devolution of powers to assist with meeting these targets

(b) In the event that further devolution of powers has been granted, the Scottish Ministers may take these new powers into account and update the delivery plan

(4) In preparing a delivery plan, the Scottish Ministers must consult;

(a) Such local authorities as they consider appropriate, if any

(b) Such persons and organisations working with or representing children or parents as they consider appropriate, if any

(c) Such persons and organisations as they consider appropriate to take into account the needs of individuals with protected characteristics under section 149(7) of the Equality Act 2010, if any

(d) the Commission on measures intended for inclusion in the delivery plan

(i) The delivery plan must have regard to any recommendations made by the Commission

(1) If there are any recommendations made by the Commission that are not included in the delivery plan, the Scottish Ministers must outline their reasons for not including these

(b) The delivery plan must state where changes have been made as a result of recommendations from the Commission

(e) Such persons who have experience of living in poverty as they consider appropriate, if any

(i) This is not strictly limited to those with an experience of living in poverty as a child but may also include parents of children living in poverty or people living in poverty more generally

(ii) Where possible, and where Scottish Ministers decide to include consultation of an individual under subsubsection d, they should endeavour to consult an individual with experience of living in poverty as a child.

(f) Any other such persons or organisations the Scottish Ministers consider necessary to consult, if any

(5) Scottish Ministers may make an order in the negative procedure for the purposes of requiring local authorities to create delivery plans under this Act.

(6) An order made under Section 5 must include;

(a) the local authority or local authorities with which the order applies to

(b) A time period for which the delivery plan is to apply to and which will be considered one ‘phase’

(i) Scottish Ministers may only require a delivery plan be made for one phase, the maximum of which must be no more than two years

(c) general groups of individuals with which local authorities must consult under subsection 4

(i) Scottish Ministers may require no groups in particular be consulted

(ii) Local authorities may still consult such groups as they consider necessary regardless of whether the Scottish Ministers have or have not required groups to be consulted, so long as any groups required to be consulted have been consulted

(7) Each delivery plan created by Scottish Ministers must be laid before Parliament alongside a statement in relation to the report, and must additionally be published to the general public in such a manner deemed fit by the Scottish Ministers

Section 4: Statements

(1) Four months after the passage of this Act, Scottish Ministers must update the Scottish Parliament on progress on establishing the delivery plan if one has yet to be established

(2) Scottish Ministers must endeavour to update the Scottish Parliament on the progress of reducing child poverty and on the progress of implementing the delivery plan no later than one year and sixty days after the last statement given on this subject

(a) For the purposes of this subsection, the first statement shall be considered to be the first delivery plan laid before Parliament.

Section 5: The Child Poverty Commission

(1) The Child Poverty Commission is hereby established

(2) The membership of the Commission is to consist of one chair and six other members, to be appointed by the Scottish Ministers

(a) These members are to be appointed no later than four months after the passage of this Act

(3) Commission members may be remunerated as deemed appropriate by the Scottish Ministers

(4) The Commission is to be functionally independent and not subject to the direction or control of any Scottish Minister

(5) Members may not be appointed to the Commission if they;

(a) Are a member of any chamber of any legislature in the United Kingdom

(b) Are a servant of the Crown

(c) Are a Scottish Minister

(6) The functions of the Commission are as follows;

(a) to advise the Scottish Ministers on any matter relating to child poverty in Scotland, including the impact of government policies

(b) to monitor progress in and promote the reduction of child poverty in Scotland

(c) The Commission may gather evidence, conduct research, and prepare such reports as appropriate to carry out their functions

(6) The Commission must publish any advice it provides to the Scottish Ministers

(7) The Commission must publish any reports it prepares

Section 6: Short Title and Commencement

(1) This Act may be cited as the Child Poverty Reduction (Scotland) Act 2023

(2) This Act shall come into force immediately upon Royal Assent

This Act was written by the Rt. Hon. Sir Frost_Walker2017, Duke of the Suffolk Coasts, on behalf of Forward. It is inspired by the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.

Opening Speech:

Presiding Officer,

I rise in support of this bill. Children are incapable of providing everything for themselves at their age, and frankly neither should they be required to so they may instead focus on discovering themselves and the world at large, and so require help and support to grow as people. Unfortunately, though, if they are born into poverty they themselves can do little to help themselves out.

That is the purpose of this bill. Members may disagree with me, but I believe that a society is best judged by how they treat their young and vulnerable. And if we allow children to grow up in poverty, we allow them to go without food, or with absent parents focused purely on providing for their family, or to go without shelter, or suitable hygiene, or suitable clothing, or… the list goes on. Therefore, we must take steps to reduce child poverty in Scotland.

This bill gives three target dates - a goal, the firm, and a backup. There are provisions in place in this bill for moving between them as necessary, though I personally hope they are not. Leading the charge on reducing child poverty is the Commission and the Development Plans, the former of which provides formal recommendations for how, and the latter of which seeks to transfer that into actual policy. The development plans are deliberately left without firm contents to allow the government of the time to guide it as necessary. For instance, if the bill mandated that child tax credits be implemented, but actually it turned out that child tax credits were insufficient or were having the opposite effect, there would need to be a bill to repeal that provision from this bill rather than simply dropping the policy. This also allows some flexibility - is a focus given on economic growth to help lift people out of poverty, or does it use the power of the welfare state to do so?

This bill gives the necessary flexibility to government while mandating action is taken. It, in my view, strikes the correct balance, and I hope members across this place can back it.

Debate on this bill will end at the close of business on 25th September at 10pm BST.