Scottish Labour child poverty commission to hold first meeting

The Scottish Labour Party’s commission on child poverty is holding its first meeting.

The commission brings together a number of experts and charities to develop proposals for tackling child poverty.

It will be co-chaired by Scottish Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy and Chris Birt of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Areas it will look at include housing, transport costs and how to increase income from work.

The commission was first announced at Scottish Labour conference in the spring.

Ms Duncan-Glancy said: “No level of child poverty is acceptable and there is no more important a job than ending it.

“In the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory, we must go hard and fast to make changes people need now, as well as putting in place a plan that keeps people out of poverty in the longer term.

“Neither of our governments are doing enough on this. That’s why we’re working with partners to put a plan together.

“There are substantial powers available to get us towards the child poverty targets, we must use every one of them.

“It will be the job of the commission to explore how we do that and develop a plan that uses all the mechanisms available to the Scottish Parliament, to make sure we build a Scotland that guarantees everyone can live up to their full potential.”

Mr Birt said: “The current cost-of-living crisis underlines the importance of the child poverty targets that the Scottish Parliament unanimously set in 2017.

“While the full rollout of the Scottish Child Payment should put child poverty back on a downwards trajectory, there is clearly much more work to be done to meet those targets.”