MSPs must create a dedicated joint committee to tackle the child poverty “emergency”, a coalition of leading children’s charities and anti-poverty organisations have demanded.
The group has warned that without greater scrutiny from Holyrood, Scotland could miss its legally binding child poverty targets.
In a joint letter to the conveners of the education, equalities, and social justice committees, the charities said tackling child poverty must be the Scottish Parliament’s number one priority.
The call is backed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), the Child Poverty Action Group and Barnardo’s, as well as the Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland, and others.
The move comes ahead of this week’s annual progress report from the Scottish Government on its Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.
The letter calls for the creation of a Scottish Parliament “people’s panel” on ending child poverty.
Earlier this month, JRF analysis of the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan found it may not be compliant with the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 and could be open to judicial review.
The Act set legal targets to reduce relative child poverty to less than 10% by 2030/31 – however, the JRF has said the latest figure for 2022-25 was more than double that at 21%.
Justina Murray, chief executive of Aberlour, said: “Having legally binding child poverty targets means little if we are not taking bold enough action to get there, and if our Parliament is not holding the Scottish Government to account on its efforts (or lack of) to meet those targets.
“Creating a dedicated cross-committee would send a powerful signal to Scotland’s children that our Parliament is fully committed to ensuring every possible action is being taken to end child poverty for good.
“The First Minister has repeatedly stated that it is his Government’s number one priority to eradicate child poverty. It is the Parliament’s role to hold him to his word on behalf of Scotland’s children.”
Satwat Rehman, chief executive of One Parent Families Scotland, said those in poverty need more than “good intentions” from Parliament.
Ms Rehman added: “Every month that passes without a credible plan to meet our statutory targets is another month in which children in these families bear the cost.
“A dedicated cross-committee would give MSPs the sustained focus this emergency demands, and the time to ask Government the hard questions that a single committee, juggling competing priorities, simply doesn’t have space for.”
Claire Telfer, head of Scotland at Save The Children, said a dedicated joint committee would “help drive the scale and pace of action needed” to meet Scotland’s legally binding targets.
A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: “As the Parliament’s committees begin their work they will be considering what issues they will explore this session and their approaches to scrutiny.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “While the question of committees is for the Scottish Parliament to consider, the Scottish Government has been clear its defining mission is eradicating child poverty. Our policies are estimated to keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year but we know there is always more to do.
“Ministers will continue to work with key partners to deliver on plans to go even further, including by expanding childcare for all children from nine months old to the end of primary school, developing the Scottish Child Payment premium for parents of children under one, streamlining help in communities through the Whole Family Support fund, and introducing a £2 nationwide cap on bus fares.”