Campaigners have welcomed a report calling for the Scottish Government's Child Poverty Bill to be strengthened.
Members of the End Child Poverty coalition, including the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland Barnardo’s and Children in Scotland, said MSPs had listened to them after Holyrood's Social Security Committee said shorter term targets were needed to create a sense of urgency about tackling the problem. The committee also said a statutory commission was needed to monitor the government's progress.
A spokesperson said setting interim goals would help measure progress towards meeting longer term targets for 2030 targets, but said more detail was needed about what the Government aimed to achieve, and an independent scrutiny body would make the law stronger.
A spokesperson said: " We are especially pleased that the Committee listened to our evidence.
“Expert scrutiny and oversight is essential in ensuring the Scottish Government and all public bodies will stay on track and make progress in meeting the income targets."
Launching its report, Social Security Committee convener Sandra White MSP said more detail was needed about the planned law: “There is simply no room for child poverty in a modern Scotland, so any legislation aimed at tackling this is to be applauded for its ambition. The Bill before us contains challenging targets for measuring child poverty but we believe that these targets do not go far enough.
The Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill was introduced after the UK Government repealed significant sections of the UK Child Poverty Act including the income based targets to address child poverty.
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