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Lucy Higginson
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East Lothian Council
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Local Authority
Key questions
2. What difference has the statutory framework made to the way local authorities and health boards have approached reducing child poverty?
Please provide your response in the box provided.
o Making the Income Maximisation service available to all
o Creating stretch Aims, in particular, closing the poverty attainment gap
o Introduction of 1140 hours in Early Learning & Childcare to allow more parents/carers to seek work but also to double the time children aged 3-5 are in an Educational setting
o Scottish Government funding through No One Left Behind/Parental Employability Fund to support parents get into work, gain/add to qualifications, return to work or change career.
o The Scottish Attainment Challenge is aligned to this and provides funding to schools through the Pupil Equity Fund to close the poverty related attainment gap for children and young people who receive free school meals. The Strategic Equity Fund provided to local authorities supports work to close the poverty related attainment gap for learners living in the most deprived data zones. Both of these funding streams have clear reporting mechanisms to measure and demonstrate impact.
o Awareness raising around the Cost of the School Day
o Awareness raising with staff across all services about the impact poverty is having on our children & Young People
o Creating stretch Aims, in particular, closing the poverty attainment gap
o Introduction of 1140 hours in Early Learning & Childcare to allow more parents/carers to seek work but also to double the time children aged 3-5 are in an Educational setting
o Scottish Government funding through No One Left Behind/Parental Employability Fund to support parents get into work, gain/add to qualifications, return to work or change career.
o The Scottish Attainment Challenge is aligned to this and provides funding to schools through the Pupil Equity Fund to close the poverty related attainment gap for children and young people who receive free school meals. The Strategic Equity Fund provided to local authorities supports work to close the poverty related attainment gap for learners living in the most deprived data zones. Both of these funding streams have clear reporting mechanisms to measure and demonstrate impact.
o Awareness raising around the Cost of the School Day
o Awareness raising with staff across all services about the impact poverty is having on our children & Young People
3. What difference has having the targets, delivery plans and reporting requirements built into the Act made at a national level?
Please provide your response in the box provided.
National targets are a useful reporting mechanism, however the combined low income and material deprivation and persistent poverty measures are unable to be reported on annually, limiting the ability to assess impact in line with national targets.
Measures that can be directly reported by the Community Planning Partnerships and compared nationally would be a useful addition.
Measures that can be directly reported by the Community Planning Partnerships and compared nationally would be a useful addition.
7. Do you have any other comments?
Please provide your response in the box provided.
Poverty including child poverty is a structural and systemic issue, ending it needs systemic change. Homelessness is the biggest driver of child poverty. To reduce child poverty, we need enough genuinely affordable homes and for those homes to be safe and energy efficient. In the short to medium term specific investment in sufficient new homes to reduce and eliminate the backlog of 30,000+ households accepted as homeless, around 15,000 of whom, including over 10,000 children, are living in temporary accommodation across Scotland. The Scottish Government has cut the Affordable Housing Supply Programme for two years running. This is a clear policy choice by the Scottish Government which doesn’t align with their ambitions to reduce child poverty. The Scottish Government has clear duties under this Act – and the reduction of Affordable Housing Supply Programme does not comply with those duties.