John Swinney has pledged that eradicating child poverty will be the “first priority” of the Scottish Government over the next 12 months.
The First Minister today repeated his offer to opposition parties to “work together” with him as Holyrood faces some of its “toughest tests” in the 25-year history of devolution.
The SNP leader unveiled his Programme for Government – which sets out the legislative agenda for the coming year – amid the backdrop of a severe squeeze on public spending.
Shona Robison, the Finance Secretary, announced yesterday a further £500m of cuts across a range of areas including healthcare, transport and the environment.
But Swinney told MSPs he remained determined to help kids from the poorest backgrounds despite the dire economic outlook.
The First Minister said: “No child should have their opportunities, their development, their health and wellbeing, and their future curtailed by the material wealth of their family. Not ever, and certainly not, in a modern, prosperous society like Scotland.
“This is not only the moral compass of my Government, it is the greatest investment in our country’s future that we can possibly make.
“It is the route to enabling greater participation in our economy and our society. It is the route to enabling more people to fulfil their potential and to be contributors to our country.”
Swinney said his Government would work to establish “a system of whole-family support”. He added: Over the coming year, we will work with partners to enable greater local flexibility, so that services can be more easily tailored to the needs of the families they support.
“We will look at what budgets can be pooled and what reporting can be streamlined. This will involve working closely with our local authority partners, other public services and the Third Sector, to align services and ensure there is a focus across our public services on meeting the needs and supporting the resilience of families.”
He pointed to the example of the Early Adopter community project in Dundee, where keyworkers help members of the public who face obstacles to entering the labour market.
The project offers focused childcare support, advice on eligibility for benefit provision and employability support to help people find work.
Swinney continued: “The key objective of the approach we will take forward will be to deliver significant reform of the work of public services to deliver whole-family support extensively across the country.
“This will create the conditions that support more parents into employment and reinforce our work to eradicate child poverty. Key to the work on whole family support will be a focus on prevention and early intervention, those small supports early on that can pay big dividends down the line.”
Swinney also appealed for the parties at Holyrood to work together, telling MSPs: “My Government does not command a majority in this Parliament. We have to work with others to make progress on our agenda.
“I therefore set out this Programme for Government with a commitment to work across this Chamber to seek common ground with others.
“I extend the invitation to colleagues to work together to find that common ground. A quarter of a century after its creation, this Parliament faces some of its toughest tests.”
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