Consultation on a Child Poverty Bill for Scotland

Overview

The consultation seeks views on the Scottish Government’s proposals for a Child Poverty Bill. The proposals include: 

• Enshrining in legislation our ambition to eradicate child poverty 
• Reinstating statutory income-based targets to reduce the number of children living in poverty
• Placing a duty on Scottish Ministers to develop a Child Poverty Delivery Plan, and to report on annually on their progress towards delivering that plan.

Why we are consulting

Tackling poverty is a key priority for the Scottish Government. The Bill will provide a framework for action and ways to hold the Government to account for their efforts in tackling poverty. But Government cannot achieve its ambition to eradicate child poverty alone. That ambition must be shared across the whole of Scotland. We want to explore how we can work constructively with stakeholders such as local government, business and the third sector to maximise our efforts. That's why we welcome your comments and advice on our proposals.

Please note that in order to meet legislative timescales and enable a Child Poverty Bill to be introduced in early 2017, a shorter eight week period has been set for this consultation process.