Do the Right Thing: children's rights progress report

17 Child poverty

What the Committee said:

"The Committee would like to highlight that an adequate standard of living is essential for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development and that child poverty also affects infant mortality rates, access to health and education as well as everyday quality of life of children. In accordance with article 27 of the Convention, the Committee recommends that the State party:

a) adopt and adequately implement the legislation aimed at achieving the target of ending child poverty by 2020, including by establishing measurable indicators for their achievement;

b) give priority in this legislation and in the follow-up actions to those children and their families in most need of support;

c) when necessary, besides giving full support to parents or others responsible for the child, intensify its efforts to provide material assistance and support programmes for children, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing."

Progress to date

We have:

• published the 'Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland', as required under the Child Poverty Act 2010, in March 2011; and
• with COSLA, established the Tackling Poverty Board to oversee and drive forward policy and practice to reduce poverty in Scotland in September 2009. Its remit was to:
• scan the horizon so that new challenges and opportunities are identified as early as possible;
• monitor and challenge how partners are implementing the key actions in Achieving our Potential, and the action being taken to meet the child poverty targets and the solidarity purpose target; and
• identify and promote the actions that can make a real impact on tackling inequality, poverty and the drivers of low income.

Further information on the Board's work, including commissioned research, is at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/tacklingpoverty/TacklingPovertyBoard

Next steps

• We will produce annual progress reports on the Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland and refresh it on a three-yearly basis. The first progress report was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 22 March 2012.