Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill: children's rights and wellbeing impact assessment

Child Poverty Bill

The Bill seeks to;

• Reinstate statutory income-based targets to reduce the number of children living in poverty
• Place a duty on Scottish Ministers to develop Child Poverty Delivery Plans at regular intervals, and to report annually on their progress towards delivering those plans.
• Place a duty on local authorities and health boards to report annually on action they are taking to reduce child poverty

Social Justice & Regeneration Division: Social Justice Strategy

To maximise the chances of ensuring all those living in Scotland can have productive, healthy lives, to stop the cycle of poverty and prevent the next generation of young people being born into poverty.

Through the proposed Child Poverty Bill and other actions being taken by the Scottish Government, we seek to improve people's ability to achieve their potential and for Scotland to be a fairer country.

The policy announcement will be made to coincide with the reappointment of the Independent Advisor on Poverty & Inequality - announced 20/07/2016

The consultation will run for a reduced period of 8 weeks (8 Aug 2016 to 30 Sep 2016) in order to meet legislative timescales and enable a Child Poverty Bill to be introduced in early 2017.

The Bill will require a Delivery Plan to be published by 1 April 2018, and thereafter new Delivery Plans to be published every 5 years up until 2030. Annual reporting against these Delivery Plans will also be required.

05 July 2016

Gillian Cross - Social Justice Strategy