Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2022-2026 - annex 7: equality impact assessment

A number of actions in the delivery plan are specifically targeted to priority families, and therefore we expect these to have a direct positive impact on the corresponding protected characteristics.

The employment policies suggested, particularly the new employment support for priority families, the pathfinders work and the new parental offer all propose a holistic approach to support, linking employability with wider support such as improved, accessible and affordable childcare and transport. The further enhancement of the holistic key worker to provide an integrated package of support will be particularly beneficial for these groups, as support can be tailored to each parent's needs and circumstances. This is likely to be beneficial for the priority groups – particularly women, minority ethnic parents, disabled parents or parents caring for a disabled child - and responds to issues raised during stakeholder consultation that generic employability and skills policies may not deliver optimal outcomes for these groups.

The expansion of Connecting Scotland will target priority groups. The increased access to digital devices and connectivity will enable priority groups to access online employability support, training opportunities and education, access online services and information and will help maximize earnings by ensuring people have the essential digital skills required. This is likely to particularly benefit women, minority ethnic parents, disabled parents or parents caring for a disabled child and parents with a baby under one.

Policies focused on overcoming systemic barriers faced by priority groups, including the Workplace Equality Fund, which aims to support employers to reduce labour market barriers and address inequalities, are targeted and therefore will be particularly beneficial to disabled workers, women and minority ethnic workers. Similarly, the Parental Transition Fund which aims to tackle the financial barriers parents face in entering the labour market, will be beneficial to groups who face additional costs in (re) entering paid employment.

Monitoring participation and outcomes of employability support programmes to ensure these priority groups are not only accessing support services, but progressing to access and sustain employment, and taking remedial action if data suggests this is not the case.

Stakeholders have highlighted that place based approached have traditionally not included or delivered on gender and race priorities, and may be less suited to delivering better outcomes for disabled people. Stakeholders identified the risk that these approaches might build on or replicate existing power imbalance and discriminatory practices in those areas. To mitigate this, representatives of priority family groups and equality stakeholders should be embedded in the scoping, design and delivery of pathfinder activities. Close monitoring will be required to ensure pathfinder activities do deliver for women, minority ethnic and disabled people, and remedial action should be taken if required.

The further development of high quality affordable and accessible childcare, before and after school and during holidays for those on low income, will be particularly beneficial to women, who carry out the majority of caring responsibilities. This will allow greater opportunity to access training, employment, learning and potential expansion of the hours they work.

As those on low incomes are more reliant on public transport, the actions set out in the plan to enhance access and affordability of public transport, will be beneficial to priority families, including young mothers. More affordable and accessible public transport will reduce household living costs and will allow more priority families to access essential services, employment centers, schools and training opportunities.

The availability of good quality, well paid jobs on a flexible basis can support women to enter and progress in the workplace. Through the Fair Work First approach, the application of fair work criteria to public sector grants, other funding and contracts will drive fair work practices across the labour market. Fair Work First criteria has recently been expanded to support flexible working from day one of employment.

Women, and other protected characteristics will also benefit from the enhanced and refocussed action to improve equality at work, such as expanding the number of employers paying the real Living Wage and continued promotion of Fair Work principles in sectors such as retail, Early Learning and Childcare as well as the National Care Service. This will be particularly beneficial for women who are more likely to work in sectors with historically low pay, low progress and are often undervalued. This includes cashiering (retail), care, and catering, cleaning and clerical sectors.

The Women Returners programme, will be particularly beneficial in supporting women who have taken a break from paid work to return to employment that matches their skills and experience.

Continue to monitor and target action to address the gender pay gap. The publication of the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan will include commitments on the Gender Pay Gap and aims to improve pay gap reporting and equalities data management more broadly. This, along with monitoring of other policies, should be used to help to inform and further develop specific actions required to address the unfair disparities faced, including the undervaluation of women's work, revaluation of the care role in society, increase of hours on childcare, increases in social security benefits amongst others.

To support the adoption of the new Fair Work First criteria, on 24 September 2021, Fair Work First guidance was published which provides good practice examples to guide employers' approaches and, importantly, explains the benefits of Fair Work for workers and organisations.

Stakeholders have highlighted that place based approaches have traditionally not included or delivered on gender priorities and the possibility that these approaches might build on or replicate existing power imbalance and discriminatory practices in those areas. To mitigate this, representatives of priority family groups and equality stakeholders should be embedded in the scoping, design and delivery of pathfinder activities. Close monitoring will be required to ensure pathfinder activities do deliver for women and remedial action should be taken if required.

A separate Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment is provided at Annex 8

Most of the policies in the plan focus on parents, however some action is likely to beneficial to young people and older workers.

In addition, the increase of provision of formal, flexible and affordable care will allow more priority groups, including young mothers to enter paid employment, training and skill development opportunities. The plan highlights that the future system of school age childcare, will take a person-centred approach and care provision will meet the needs of both children and their carers.

The policies focused on provision of affordable and accessible public transport are expected to reduce household costs and make it more affordable for young people to access education, training and employment. Maintaining and improving the bus network benefits people who are too young to drive, or otherwise do not have access to a car and are more likely to rely on buses and public transport to get around. The National Bus Travel Concessions Scheme for Young Persons will be beneficial for young people in terms of creating more opportunities to take the bus to work, to access education, and social opportunities which may improve their financial and overall wellbeing.

The proposed free bikes programme will be targeted at school age children between 4 and 18. Although the policy is still in development, it aims to support a just transition away from single occupancy carbon intensive modes of transport, to Active Travel based sustainable solutions. The policy will impact significantly on transport poverty figures and contribute to the Scottish Government commitment to reduce car kilometres travelled by 20% by 2030.

Continue to monitor policies around Early Learning and Childcare, transport, and digital connectivity to ensure that support does reach those most at risk, including young people and young single parents and take remedial action if required.

Through the publications of the Pay Gap Strategies and through the Demand Responsive Travel review, encourage and support organisations to collect data to understand the barriers different age groups and protected characteristics experience and then improve or adapt appropriate action.

Policies in the plan, including those that aim to reduce the minority ethnic pay gap, tackle the structural inequality in employment and services and increasing income from employment and supporting minority ethnic people to enter, return and sustain employment through targeted, employability and skills policies that promote flexible and fair work principles, will be particularly beneficial to minority ethnic families.

The Fair Start programme specifically targets minority groups, and employers must demonstrate how they will engage positively to support sustained employment, whilst recognising the barriers and cultural issues minority communities face.

Minority ethnic families are more likely to use buses than their white counterparts. Providing affordable and accessible public transport which connects minority ethnic people to essential services, employment centers and schools will therefore be beneficial to ME families.

Following publication of the ethnicity pay gap strategy ensure employers can use the strategy to collect, analyse and apply data to inform actions to address barriers experienced by minority ethnic people.

Stakeholders have highlighted that place based approaches have traditionally not included or delivered for minority ethnic communities and the possibility that these approaches might build on or replicate existing power imbalance and discriminatory practices in those areas. To mitigate this, representatives of priority family groups and equality stakeholders, including for ME communities should be embedded in the scoping, design and delivery of pathfinder activities. Close monitoring will be required to ensure pathfinder activities do deliver for ME communities and remedial action should be taken if required.

No specific action has been identified to address this, however policies in the plan that target minority ethnic communities and address structural barriers for priority families may be beneficial for some religious groups.

Consider the development of data and work with stakeholders to improve understanding of the role of work and barriers faced, in relation to poverty amongst faith groups

The policies that target priority groups, including young mothers should have a positive impact. For example, the Women Returners programme, will be particularly beneficial in supporting mothers who have taken a break from paid work to return to employment that matches their skills and experience.

Many mothers face the 'motherhood penalty' in that they can struggle to return to work following maternity leave if working patterns do not support their care commitments.

The Women Returners programme, will be particularly beneficial in supporting women who have taken a break from paid work to return to employment that matches their skills and experience. The employability support services, which will provide peer and relational support, will be beneficial with supporting mothers to build their confidence and potentially increase engagement and improve their wellbeing.

Further development of data to monitor policy impacts for pregnancy and maternity should be considered

No specific actions have been identified to help LGBT parents into employment. However, given the inclusive approach to many policies and services included, positive impacts may be possible.

Monitor situation to improve understanding of poverty amongst LGBT people.

In addition to the employability and fair work actions set out above, strengthened Supported Businesses will also be beneficial to disabled people, by raising the profile and strengthening their commercial viability, potentially leading to more meaningful employment and training opportunities for disabled people.

The policies in the plan, particularly those focused on increasing awareness of flexible employment opportunities, training and skills and financial wellbeing support, could help address the barriers disabled people face.

The publication of the Disability Employment Action Plan, will support employers to better understand the issues driving labour market disparities for disabled people and will lead to improved pay gap reporting and equalities data management more broadly. This will help to inform and further develop actions required to address the unfair disparities faced.

The further development of high quality affordable and accessible childcare, before and after school and during holidays for those on low income, will take a person-centered approach to ensure care provision meets the needs of disabled parents and the needs of disabled children attending.

The policies focused on provision of affordable and accessible public transport, including concessionary fares for disabled people will be beneficial allowing more for more disabled people to access education, training and employment opportunities as well as support services. Maintaining and improving the bus network may benefit people who do not have access to a car, including some disabled people who are more likely to rely on buses and public transport to get around.

The proposed free bikes programme will be targeted at school age children between 4 and 18. Although the policy is still in development, particular consideration will be given to ensure suitable provision for those with additional support needs.

Continue to monitor and target action to address the disability pay gap. The publication of the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan will include commitments on the Disability Pay Gap and will lead to improved pay gap reporting and equalities data management more broadly. This, along with monitoring of other policies, should be used to help to inform and further develop specific actions required to address the unfair disparities faced by disabled people.

Monitor existing Early Learning and Childcare offer and design of school age childcare to ensure it is accessible and meets the needs of disabled children who attend and disabled parents.

The Fair Fares Review aims to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to transport fares, including for disabled people. The review will take into account the cost and availability for services, including for disabled people. Following this review, remedial action should be taken if required.

A number of actions in the delivery plan are specifically targeted to priority families, and therefore we expect these to have a direct positive impact on the corresponding protected characteristics.

The integrated policies and services outlined in the plan, particularly providing holistic and whole family support through the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, will target priority groups. The Getting it Right Together and No Wrong Door approach will ensure families are supported to access the right support at the right time, and will help to navigate the complex systems of support services available through trusted professionals, without stigma or discrimination, which will likely benefit priority groups and people with the associated protected characteristics.

The Social Innovation Partnership (SIP) targets priority groups, including specific projects aimed at different protected groups. SIP partners focus on better wellbeing, financial inclusion, social connectedness and routes to employment, and will potentially impact on each of the three drivers of child poverty for these groups.

Enhancement of accessible financial advice services will likely impact cost of living for all priority groups, through increasing awareness and uptake of social security as well as general money management advice.

Continue to monitor and evaluate policies to ensure support is reaching those at greater risk of poverty, particular priority families and the related protected characteristics.

SIP learning partners will continue to track the impact of the SIP approach at the delivery and systems level. The next phase of the learning programme will focus in particular on understanding impact and change at the system level. Separate evaluation will be commissioned for the Scottish Mentoring & Leadership programme. This should be reviewed to ensure support is reaching those most at risk of poverty and to identify any remedial action required.

The SIP programme includes a specific project aimed at supporting women and girls' mental health and wellbeing. Other beneficial supports include financial inclusion work, befriending, advice and advocacy, flexible working and flexible childcare. The Scottish Mentoring and Leadership's programme school-based mentoring and leadership support will also benefit girls.

As a greater proportion of women's income comes from social security, the policies to assist low income households through income supplements will have a positive impact. For example, the Scottish Carer's Assistance and Carer's Additional Person Payment will disproportionately benefit women, who make up the majority of unpaid carers and 69% of the recipients of the current Carer's Allowance benefit which Scottish Carer's Assistance will replace. Discretionary housing payments (DHPs) directly support households with the cost of housing where their benefits have been capped. This policy could help all priority groups, though mainly lone parents who accounted for 68% of eligibility.

Enhanced and continued policies to help with the cost of living such as free school meal provision, free access to period products, help with school uniforms, fuel and housing costs will also be beneficial.

The strengthened support from Health Visitors to ensure all families receive the financial advice they need will be particularly beneficial to women and will help with maximising income and reducing household costs. The expansion of the Family Nurse Partnership local pathways to support all young first time mothers aged 21 and under, and where capacity allows will target first time mothers under the age of 25 who are care experienced or from the most deprived communities, will also be beneficial by increasing access to money advice, income maximisation and community support for some women. The Best Start programme, providing care closer to home and more relational midwifery will support women during pregnancy. The Best Start Food policy will have a direct impact through increasing income from social security and thus reducing cost of living for pregnant women and families with a child under three years old who are in receipt of a qualifying benefit.

The 1000 additional staff commitment to Mental Health and Wellbeing Primary Care Services will help to support positive mental wellbeing in local communities through provision of a range of services including accessible drug and alcohol services, community mental health services, exercise coaches, peer networks and family support wrapped around GP practices linked to employability support. This service will be available to anyone in need of mental, health, wellbeing or distress support and therefore will likely benefit both men and women.

The implementation of The Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 will strengthen immediate protections for the victims of abuse and any children to remain in the family home or social housing. This will better protect many parents, particularly women, reducing the risk that they will experience homelessness as a result of domestic abuse. The continued investment in the Ending Homelessness Together Fund will also be beneficial for supporting positive housing outcomes for victims of domestic abuse.

A risk to achieving social security policy objectives is that eligible families will not be aware of the schemes so will not apply. Social Security Scotland takes a proactive approach to promoting benefits and maximising uptake. However, to increase uptake of targeted support, there is a need to work with local authorities, DWP and HMRC to improve data sharing. There will need to be work with local authorities on their processes of identifying eligible households and getting payment to them and consideration should also be given to the feasibility of improving data reporting.

To enable better targeting of support locally and to improve the reach of engagement of services, there is a need to work with local partners and grassroots, community-led organisations to reach those most excluded groups.

Consideration should be given to the further development of homelessness data to better understand the links between protected characteristics and priority families and their experience/risk of homelessness and action required to address this.

Most of the policies in the plan focus on parents from priority groups, however the action is also likely to benefit their children.

The Scottish Mentoring and Leadership programme also takes a preventative approach to equip young people so they do not themselves become parents/carers in poverty in the future

There is evidence that households headed by younger people (16-24), by women, and where a member has a long-term health condition are more at risk of fuel poverty, so mothers under 25 and disabled people may experience greater relative benefit from the plan's actions on fuel poverty. Low Income Winter Heating Assistance is targeted at low income households who require extra help towards increased heat costs, including young people who meet the eligibility criteria. This will provide them with greater consistency and certainty, as they will be guaranteed a payment each winter.

The Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan sets out actions to offset inequalities for both specific populations who may be disproportionately affected, such as young people, as well as improving mental health outcomes at a population level. The 1000 additional staff commitment to Mental Health and Wellbeing Primary Care Services will help to support positive mental wellbeing in local communities through provision of a range of services including accessible drug and alcohol services, community mental health service, exercise coaches, peer networks and family support wrapped around GP practices linked to employability support. This service will be available to anyone in need of mental, health, wellbeing or distress support, including both children and adults.

Continue to monitor and evaluate policies to ensure support is reaching those at greater risk of poverty, including young people. Reduction of costs and efforts to maximise income will be beneficial although there is a need to continue to monitor the overall relationship between costs and income and take remedial action if required.

A risk to the success of tackling fuel poverty is that powers relating to energy markets are outwith the control of the Scottish Government. Lived experience research also found that people's awareness of energy advice services is low. The Fuel Poverty Strategy will be supported by a detailed monitoring and evaluation framework, which should be used to ensure actions are reaching those most at risk, including young mothers and consider mitigating action to address the lack of awareness

The range of policies should be beneficial to disabled people because by providing accessible support to maximise income and reducing costs for everyday items, there will be more money to cover costs for specific items they require.

SIP partners engage and support disabled people and people with long standing mental health issues. Activities promote greater social inclusion, financial wellbeing and routes to employment and learning opportunities

As a result of higher poverty levels, disabled people are more likely to benefit from the range of devolved benefits available, such as the Scottish Child Payment, Child Disability Payment and Child Winter Heating Assistance and the Adult Disability Payment when in force. It is estimated that around 90% of those who receive the current Carer's Allowance benefit live in a household with a disabled person. Improvements to Scottish Carer's Assistance will therefore benefit these households in particular, including through the Carer's Additional Person Payment, providing extra financial support to those caring for more than one person getting a disability benefit. Child Winter Heating Assistance will help mitigate the additional heating costs that the households of the most severely disabled children and young people face in the winter months.

Social Security Scotland and the financial advice services will continue to help disabled people to be supported with any accessibility barriers when applying for assistance. In particular, the Social Security Advocacy Service will bring free support to disabled people to help them access devolved benefits, to better understand and communicate their needs and concerns, and to participate in the processes and decisions which affect them.

The updated Housing for Varying Needs design guide will improve the living standards for disabled people of all ages, by improving accessibility and inclusive design standards to new homes delivered with the aid of grant support through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. This update will then inform the future development of a new Scottish Accessible Homes Standard which all new homes must achieve.

Continue to monitor and evaluate policies to ensure support is reaching and meeting the needs of those at greater risk of poverty, including disabled people. Reduction of costs and efforts to maximise income will be beneficial although there is a need to mitigate against the barriers disabled people face and provide specialist support and input to meet their needs.

Existing data on disability are not comprehensive enough to allow for robust estimates of the number of people who would be eligible but do not apply for a qualifying benefit. However ongoing work through the Benefit Take-up Strategy should be helpful

A monitoring and evaluation process for LIWHA will be in place prior to its launch. Once payments have commenced, on-going engagement with key stakeholders through a Stakeholder Reference Group will provide opportunities to monitor the impact of the policy. This should include disabled people.

Action to reduce costs for families in the private sector will be beneficial to minority ethnic families, who research show are overrepresented in this sector. Also as minority ethnic families tend to have larger families, they are likely to benefit from the expansion of more affordable homes and the plans to strengthen housing planning process to ensure that larger family homes are delivered where they are required. This can help decrease the amount of income spent on housing.

The Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund and Site Design Guide aims to improve living condition for Gypsy/Traveller communities by providing more and better public accommodation. For existing residents, we anticipate that the improved standard of accommodation will contribute to reduced household costs through greater energy efficiency and therefore lower heating bills. Provision of broadband on sites will improve access to work and services, including social security rights which may in turn make benefits more accessible. Provision of a community facility allows for outreach services. Additional accommodation will make public pitches available where people may have been living on roadside encampments, giving access to sanitation, heating and basic services such as education. The target group for these policies are Gypsy/Traveller children, therefore the above policies will likely have a positive impact. In addition, the Site Design Guide focuses on the needs of children, disabled people and older people who are not well served by existing accommodation, and therefore likely to improve quality of life for these residents.

Policies in the plan which support families to maximise their income and help with the cost of living, such as free school meal provision, free access to period products, help with school uniforms, fuel and housing costs will also be beneficial to priority families, including minority ethnic households. For example Low Income Winter Heating Assistance is targeted at low income households who require extra help towards increased heat costs, including minority ethnic people who meet the eligibility criteria. This will provide them with greater consistency and certainty, as they will be guaranteed a payment each winter.

Some minority ethnic families, with children under the age of three with British citizenship and whose parent or guardian meets the financial eligibility criteria but do not have a qualifying benefit due to having no recourse to public funds, will be eligible for the Best Start Food support. This will have a direct impact through increasing income from social security and thus reducing cost of living.

Continue to monitor and evaluate policies to ensure support is reaching those at greater risk of poverty, including minority ethnic communities. Further data collection should be considered to understand the diverse needs of minority ethnic communities.

Policies should be mindful of the barriers minority ethnic families face and take action to mitigate against these. For example, minority ethnic people are less likely to identify and apply for carers support, therefore the development of Scottish Carer's Assistance should take this into account and take targeted action to address this. To address the structural barriers and gain a better understanding of cultural barriers, continued work with ethnic minority people themselves will be vitally important, such as through Experience Panels as part of our Benefit Take-up Strategy.

Development of Private Rented Sector Reforms should consider mitigation action for households who receive housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit (who constitute between a quarter and a third of all households in the PRS), as the benefit of lower rents may be offset by lower benefit income. They will still benefit to some extent from lower rents unless all of their private rents had been covered by their housing entitlement. Consideration should also be given to location of provision of affordable homes, as ME families may face discrimination and harassment which might make them avoid certain areas.

To address the structural barriers and gain a better understanding of cultural barriers, continued work with ethnic minorities people themselves, such as Experience Panels as part of our Benefit Take-up Strategy, is vitally important to monitor and adapt action required.

Actions set out in the plan that target priority families, including young mothers, will be beneficial. For example the Family Nurse Partnership provides support to younger, first time mothers, providing advice and guidance to improve sensitive, responsive care-giving, and increase the economic stability of the family. The expansion of this policy will be particularly beneficial to support to all young mothers under the age of 21 and to young mothers under the age of 25 who are care experienced or from the most deprived communities.

The commitment to work with Health Visitors to build their confidence and competency in discussing financial circumstances with all families and understanding the individual barriers to accessing support they are entitled to, targets pregnant women and families with young children who are on the Universal health visitor pathway. This increased access to financial advice will impact upon income from social security and general money management advice could impact on cost of living.

The Best Start Food policy will have a direct impact through increasing income from social security and thus reducing cost of living for pregnant women and families with a child under three years old who are in receipt of a qualifying benefit.

Best Start Grant targets low income families with a pregnant woman or a young child in receipt of a qualifying benefit. Under 18s (including asylum seekers), and 18 and 19 year olds who are still dependent on someone are automatically entitled, without the need for a qualifying benefit. The efforts to increase awareness of entitlement of devolved benefits for new mothers and support with the application process, along with the combining of the SCP application form with the Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods will also be beneficial. Access to fuel poverty schemes, affordable credit and additional supports such as the baby box and access to free period products, might also be helpful to get through the additional costs during the pregnancy and maternity period.

Pregnant young women and the youngest mothers (under 21) make up about 1 in 25 of all applications for homeless assessments in Scotland. Some of them will likely be domestic abuse survivors with very limited support networks. The targeting of policies that support safe housing for young mothers in particular will be beneficial.

No negative impacts identified. Continue to monitor and evaluate policies to ensure support is reaching those at greater risk of poverty, including women and young mothers in particular.

Further monitoring of the Health Visitor quality improvement programme is planned, and this will look to test policy into practice through adding questions to local evaluations, on whether families with young children feel more supported.

There are no policies in the plan that have a particular focus on individuals who have or are undergoing gender reassignment, but given the inclusive approach to many policies and services included, positive impacts may be possible

The Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan sets out actions to offset inequalities for specific populations who may be disproportionately affected (including trans people), as well as improving mental health outcomes at a population level. In general the Scottish Government's budget invests in a range of measures to prevent crime, including hate crime, and to promote trans-inclusive policy.

The Population Census in 2022 will include voluntary questions on transgender status/history. This will allow for development of baseline data on gender identity, which will be beneficial to monitor.

Social Security Scotland's continued collection and analysis of equality data on applicants and clients, will be beneficial in order to assess social security outcomes for transgender people compared to other groups. This will help develop a better understanding of the difficulties transgender people experience and will help inform actions required to mitigate these. Consideration should also be given to emerging evidence that suggests LGBT people experience barriers in accessing social security systems as they are designed around heteronormative structures.

The refreshed programme for the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) and further implementation of GIRFEC will benefit young people, including disabled children and children from minority ethnic families, by providing additional help and support to mitigate against the impacts of child poverty and by empowering schools and local councils to drive education recovery and accelerate progress in tackling the poverty related attainment gap. The holistic, rights-based, family centred approach will be particularly beneficial to disabled and minority ethnic children who can face additional barriers and who often have complex needs. This is expected to have a long term impact on the readiness of children and young people impacted by poverty to enter and sustain positive destinations – contributing to efforts to break the cycle of poverty.

The Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) will continue to benefit 16 to 19 year olds from low income-households, including disabled children. The programme provides financial support to support young people to participate in the senior phase of secondary school and further education. This is turn will likely have a positive impact, by increasing the number of young people with qualifications, skills development, which in turn can improve employment choices.

The further investment in Young Person's Guarantee will provide new and enhanced education, skills, employability and employment opportunities as well as relationship based support to young people (16-24) who are at risk of not participating in opportunities and face significant barriers in entering the labour market, including disabled children. This will be particularly beneficial to children from minority ethnic families as they face additional barriers with accessing the labour market and to teenage mothers who are 20% likely to have no qualifications than older mothers.

Success of the SAC and EMA will depend on various factors, including the engagement of children and parents. Ongoing monitoring will be required to seek to identify risks, to ensure the policies are reaching those most at risk and remedial action should be taken to address challenges.

GIRFEC is delivered through services and people who work with children, young people and families. A personalised child's plan should be put in place when support across multiple services is needed. This relies on the effective implementation of GIRFEC, which includes assessment of wellbeing and needs, supported by effective multi-agency working. Local authorities, health, and other service providers may create their own local guidelines within the overall GIRFEC approach; there is a risk of inconsistency. However, the development of the Outcomes Framework for Children, Young People and Families will provide a consistent approach to demonstrate progress in improving outcomes at local and national levels, which will help to enhance our understanding of the collective impact from a wide range of policies, services and frontline practice, and will help demonstrate the interconnections between GIRFEC and child poverty.

The policies in this section aim to improve the wellbeing and future prospects for all children living in poverty. Therefore they should all have positive impacts for children

The provision of 1,140 fully funded Early Learning and Childcare for every three and four year old child and children experiencing the most disadvantage able to access this offer from age 2 will continue to have a positive impact. All preschool children attending a registered childcare provider can receive a funded portion of milk (or specified non-dairy alternative) and a healthy snack each day they spend 2 hours or more in childcare and all children receive four free packs of books through the Bookbug book gifting programme, helping children to read with their families from an early age.

The delivery of free breakfast provision, alongside free school meals, will improve children's access to nutritious food while reducing living costs to families. Similarly the expansion of free school meals to include all primary and special school children will ensure more children have access to high-quality and nutritious food in the school. By making provision universal it can help to remove perceived stigmas sometimes associated with free school meals and potentially promote increased uptake among previously reluctant families who were eligible under low income qualifying criteria.

A mapping exercise will be carried out on current provision of free breakfast policy. This will enable target groups to be better identified and will help develop plans for future breakfast offer to ensure it best meet the needs of children and families in Scotland.

No negative impacts have been identified at this stage.

However, we know that existing barriers such as gender stereotyping and cultural attitudes can shape outcomes for girls, boys, men and women. The First Minister's National Advisory Council on Women and Girls focused on these issues in their first report and made a series of challenging recommendations that the Scottish Government accepted and is working towards implementing. These included: the Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning to implement policies to ensure that gender equality is further embedded in all aspects of education and learning and establishing a What Works? Institute to develop and test robust, evidence-led inclusive and representative approaches to changing public attitudes in Scotland to girls and women's equality and rights. During policy development, consideration should be given to this. There is a need to continue to monitor and evaluate policies to ensure support does reach those most at risk of poverty. Consideration should also be given to the needs of children identifying as non-binary.

The Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) will continue to benefit 16 to 19 year olds from low income-households. The programme provides financial support to support young people to participate in the senior phase of secondary school and further education. This in turn will likely have a positive impact, by increasing the number of young people with qualifications and skills development, which in turn can improve employment choices. As there is a strong correlation between low income households, priority family groups and teenage pregnancy, there is an increased likelihood that pregnant young people will be eligible and benefit from the EMA.

Access to a health visitor who delivers the Universal Health Visiting Pathway, which provides tailored support to the child and parents and routes into other services will be beneficial. Younger, first time mothers will also benefit from the Family Nurse Partnership, which provides advice and guidance to improve sensitive, responsive care-giving, and increase the economic stability of the family.

Scotland's Baby Box aims to provide essential items to all families with newborns to give all children in Scotland an equal start in life. This will directly impact on cost of living and will help to inform and support positive parenting behaviours, supporting child development. Independent evaluation of the scheme found that parents on lower incomes were more likely to report that receiving a baby box had a positive financial impact, saving them money on things they would otherwise have needed to buy themselves. It is expected that the majority of children born in the most deprived areas would continue to benefit from the Baby Box.