The Scottish Government introduced the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill on 9 February 2017. The Bill establishes a framework for reducing child poverty and puts in place mechanisms to assess progress. The Bill does not extend to specific policy measures that could contribute to reducing child poverty.
It establishes statutory targets to be met by Scottish Ministers relating to child poverty and a requirement to prepare delivery plans and annual progress reports. The Bill requires local authorities and health boards to report jointly on what local actions are being taken to contribute to meeting targets.
View the story of the Bill's journey through Parliament here
Read the SPICe Briefing
The Social Security Committee is the lead Committee scrutinising the legislation. It took evidence, on the Bill, at Stage 1, during March and April 2017. This page covers consideration of the Bill at Stage 1 only.
Written evidence
The Committee issued a call for evidence on the Bill which can be accessed via the link below. The deadline for written submissions was Thursday 23 March 2017.
Read the call for evidence
Read the written submissions received
Oral evidence
The Committee took oral evidence at its meetings on 27 March, 20 April and 27 April 2017.
Read the meeting papers and the Official Reports
The Committee published its report to the Scottish Parliament on 22 May 2017.
Read the Social Security Committee’s 1st Report, 2017 (Session 5), Stage One Report on the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill (SP Paper 145)
Read the news release about the report
Responses
The Scottish Government responded to the Committee's report on 30 May 2017.
Read the Scottish Government's response to the Committee's report (192KB pdf)
Consideration of the Bill at Stage 1 concluded with the debate in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament on 1 June 2017.
Read the Official Report of the Stage 1 debate on the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill