Scotland: Social Justice Secretary hits out over child poverty

Submitted by Myghal Map Serpren on July 26, 2015 - 9:39pm

This news published by the Celtic League:

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

SCOTLAND : SOCIAL JUSTICE SECRETARY HITS OUT OVER CHILD POVERTY

Scottish Government Social Justice Secretary, Alex Neil MSP, has hit out at the UK governments decision to redefine child poverty saying that tens of thousands of children will suffer as a consequence. He told Scottish media:

"By changing the definition of child poverty the UK Government is hiding the true extent of the problem and casting adrift the 120,000 Scottish children whose parents are working on low incomes and struggling to pay their bills.

"The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must rethink these flawed plans. They will only gloss over the impact of the UK Government's austerity agenda and fail to show the shocking reality of its inexcusable attack on low-paid families.”

He also said: "The Scottish Government will continue to measure and report on the wide range of factors that drive child poverty including income, educational attainment and health outcomes. Our sophisticated measurement framework was developed with experts and leading children's organisations and is helping us to understand the full scale of the problem and find the most effective ways to address it.

"Around 210,000 children are living in relative poverty after housing costs are paid, but these numbers are likely to soar in coming years because of cuts to social security. Reforms to tax credits alone will reduce the incomes of between 200,000 and 250,000 households in Scotland , with families facing almost £700 million of cuts."

Mr Neil is writing to UK Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith to set out his concerns.

J B Moffatt (Mr)

Director of Information
Celtic League

26/07/15

THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE.

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