Supporting Scotland with Cost of Living and Reducing Child Poverty
S6M-08589: That the Parliament commits to continuing the national mission on tackling child poverty; acknowledges that the most recent poverty statistics remain too high and that all levels of government must take action to reduce poverty and inequality in society; recognises the pressure being placed on household finances due to rising inflation, high energy bills and soaring increases to food costs, and that this cost of living crisis disproportionately impacts households on low incomes and is likely to exacerbate unacceptably high levels of child poverty; welcomes plans for an anti-poverty summit to guide future action on tackling poverty; acknowledges the significant action that the Scottish Government has already taken to tackle the cost of living and child poverty, including the tripling of the Fuel Insecurity Fund, expanding and increasing the value of the Scottish Child Payment and introducing new family benefits, mitigating the benefit cap as far as possible within devolved powers, the provision of 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare, and offering universal free school meals to all pupils in P1 to P5, and calls on the UK Government to match the ambition shown by the Scottish Government and reverse the harmful welfare reform policies implemented since 2015, which would lift an estimated 70,000 people, including 30,000 children, out of poverty in Scotland in 2023-24.