 The next item of business is a statement by Aileen Campbell on tackling child poverty delivery plan, first-year progress report. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions and no interruptions. I call on Aileen Campbell for 15 minutes please, cabinet secretary. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. 20 years ago, when this Parliament was reconvened, it was because the people of Scotland wanted its own Parliament to make its own decisions on the priorities of the Scottish people. Reducing child poverty is a clear example of where we can do that. When the UK Government decided to remove the child poverty remit from the social mobility commission and abandon its child poverty targets, this Government did not agree. We withdrew from that commission and brought forward our own child poverty Scotland bill, introducing new statutory targets to reduce child poverty. The bill was unanimously passed and followed by the first tackling child poverty delivery plan. That is devolution in action and that is where collectively we can make a difference. Today, I have published a first-year progress report on that delivery plan, which shows that we have been working hard to build the foundations for transformational change. The most recent poverty statistics for 2017-18 show that almost a quarter of children live in relative poverty in Scotland. Those figures, though lower than a UK level, are totally unacceptable. They predate the delivery plan, but the challenge that we face is clear and this Government is determined to tackle it. Our progress report shows that, after the first year, 48 of the 50 actions in the plan are already in progress or being delivered. For example, we launched our new devolved employability service, Fair Start Scotland, in April last year. Job outcomes are encouraging and service users are positive about their experience, and our programmes do not penalise people through sanctioning benefits. That is a real divergence from the previous UK Government's work programme. The progress report also demonstrates the great package of support that this Government provides for families throughout childhood, from birth to school and beyond, all helping to reduce costs for families. One example of that is the partnership with local government. We have set the national minimum school clothing grant at an increased level of £100 from the start of this academic year, backed by joint annual investment of £12 million. In November, we launched our new financial health check service through Scotland's network of citizens advice bureau. That provides families with the help that they need to maximise their incomes and beat the poverty premium. Since the publication of the delivery plan, we are now delivering through our new social security system new benefits to low-income households. All three elements of best start grant are now open to families across Scotland, backed by £21 million this year. The unprecedented number of applications that we have received shows that if we take away barriers, remove stigma and encourage people to apply, people will take up the benefits on offer. On Monday, the third carers allowance supplement was paid to increase financial support for carers. That means that £452.40 a year more is going to carers here than outwith Scotland. The Poverty and Inequality Commission has welcomed activity under way and advised us that our investment must match the scale of ambition and we agree. The progress report provides a first estimate of our direct spend on low-income families—£527 million in 18, 19 alone. Of course, that is not the whole story. That estimate does not include the social contract that delivers the universal services that we all enjoy and from which our society benefits. A multi-billion-pound package of additional investment is in place in key areas to help all children and all parents, whether low income or not, realise their full potential. As a Government, we are proud of what we have achieved already and we will keep on delivering. Over the next year, we will build on a number of key areas, for example, progressing on delivering our massive investment in universal early learning and childcare, which will save families on average £4,500 per child. On Monday, I launched a new £3 million fund to support delivery of accessible and affordable community-based childcare and experiences for school-aged children. By the end of the year, we will launch a new programme of parental employment support to help parents to return to work and progress in their careers. This Government is taking action in challenging times. This week, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty is at the UN to set out the damage that has been caused by the UK Government's policies. His reports make for shock in reading. Professor Philip Alston said that the social security safety net was being systematically dismantled. He called out the two-child limit for the despicable policy it is, and he railed against the four-year benefits freeze. Those disastrous UK Government policies that are driving increases in child poverty are rightly described by the rapporteur as punitive, mean-spirited and often callous. The Scottish Government does not have the powers to reverse or scrap UK-reserved policies. We have previously estimated that welfare cuts since 2010 would amount to £3.7 billion annually by 2020-21. Professor Alston said that it was unsustainable for devolved administrations to mitigate everything, and I agree. For those who do not want those policies, rather than being content with mitigation, why not join me in calling for full powers over areas such as employment and social security so that we do not have to tackle disadvantage with one hand tied behind our backs? Our commitment to work towards introducing an income supplement for low-income families within the lifetime of this delivery plan is a flagship policy designed to shift the curve of child poverty. Over the last year, the Scottish Government has undertaken a thorough assessment of a range of options, in line with the original two tests that were set out in the delivery plan. In line with the first test, we looked at how to target families who need the additional income most to lift children out of poverty. That analysis of costs and impacts is published today. In line with the second test, we also considered how to ensure a robust and viable delivery route that protects the safe and secure transfer of the devolved benefits. Those are brought together in a position paper, which is also published today. A year ago today, the First Minister appointed me as community's cabinet secretary and Shirley-Anne Somerville as cabinet secretary for social security, and gave both of us the responsibility for tackling poverty, and we have worked closely together on the income supplement policy. Reducing poverty and achieving a fairer Scotland is why we came into politics. We do not want to live in a country where we have to mitigate against the policies of another Government, where children go hungry because their families have had to wait months for their first universal credit payment, where 85 per cent of benefit spending remains under the control of another Government, where we cannot change the minimum wage to tackle in-work poverty, and the majority in this Parliament do not want that either. However, although we do not yet have all the powers that we need, we are not content to sit blithly by and allow the children of Scotland to bear the brunt of Tory austerity. Our ambitions require bold action. We must use the powers that we have to deliver on our commitment to tackle poverty. That is why I am delighted to confirm that we will use our new social security powers to introduce a new benefit to tackle child poverty. This new financial support will be delivered by Social Security Scotland and called the Scottish Child Payment. By the end of 2022, that payment will be for all eligible children aged under 16. The payment will be monthly and will be operated annually in line with inflation and all children in eligible families will be entitled to that support. There will be no cap on the number of children in this or any other social security policy in Scotland. The payment will be based on qualifying benefits, including universal credit, job seekers allowance and child tax credits. However, as universal credit is not due to be fully rolled out until 2023 at the earliest, many families will still be in receipt of legacy benefits. That would make automation of the service always complex and time consuming particularly challenging. In order to deliver the new payment, Social Security Scotland will manage an application-based process. As with all benefits delivered by us, we will work hard to get maximum take-up. While we will introduce the Scottish Child Payment by the end of 2022, at a time when we are delivering a suite of complex devolved benefits, we have listened to the voices of front-line poverty campaigners, including people with lived experience who are facing the impact of UK Government welfare cuts now. We have therefore looked carefully at what is deliverable within an earlier timescale, considered what the effects to other aspects of our social security programme might be, and sought an approach that will have the biggest impact on children living in poverty. The outcome of that work is that I am delighted to announce that we will introduce the Scottish Child Payment for all eligible children under six by the end of this parliamentary term much earlier than our original commitment. The approach that we have decided upon is informed by those two facts. Almost 60 per cent of all children in poverty live in a family with at least one child under the age of six, and we know that making a difference in the early years of a child's life has the biggest impact on long-term outcomes. We must shift the curve on child poverty, and providing direct support to parents can do just that. Therefore, I can announce today that our new Scottish Child Payment will be £10 a week. For a two-child family, this additional financial support of over 1,000 a year will make a major difference. Scottish Child Payment is a significant turning point in our action to tackle child poverty, and it will benefit hundreds of thousands of children. The decisions that we have taken to enable earlier delivery from next year will benefit 140,000 households with 170,000 children and is a substantial investment in families in Scotland. When the policy is fully rolled out by the end of 2022, 410,000 children over a third of Scottish children will be eligible for the payment. We expect the Scottish Child Payment to lift 30,000 children out of relative poverty altogether and reduce the relative poverty rate by three percentage points, as well as increasing the family incomes of many tens of thousands more. The payment will help to prevent poverty for families on insecure incomes just above the poverty threshold, who are facing UK Government welfare cuts and will help children at risk of material deprivation and other of our targets. A payment that prevents deprivation and protects those who need our support is something that this Government and this Parliament can and should be proud of. The Scottish Government is today making a conscious and deliberate decision to prioritise action to tackle child poverty for the remainder of this Parliament and beyond. However, doing what we know is right and doing so early means tough decisions and choices. Tackling child poverty will be central to the budget in spending review in the coming months. There will also be implications for the delivery of other aspects of our social security programme. Audit Scotland's recent report noted that it is difficult to see how the programme could progress more quickly, so it is clear that we will need to make the necessary space to deliver the new payment early and successfully. It is important to be open with the Parliament from the outset. We have already carried out extensive work to ensure that we can deliver. We are also aware that we will need to actively manage the delivery of the payment within a highly complex and challenging existing programme. Therefore, over the summer, officials will carry out further formal assessment of the challenges and develop a clear plan for how to mitigate them. That will include any issues relating to IT systems, staffing, supplier management and our enabling services. I can say now that we will absolutely deliver disability assistance for working-age people, our replacement for PIP, in early 2021, as outlined to Parliament in February. We are on track to deliver our first disability benefit disability assistance for children and young people next summer, as announced. Our expectation is that the launch of our new claim service for disability assistance for older people, the devolved form of DWP's attendance allowance, may need to take place in 2021, rather than in 2020, as originally planned. There may be an impact on the launch date for the new claims of Scottish carers allowance, which may need to move back a few months to early 2022. There could also be an impact on the date when we expect to complete the transfer of benefit cases from DWP to Social Security Scotland. We have today responded to an initiated question on the implications of this on social security delivery. The Social Security Secretary will update Parliament with more detail in the autumn following the completion of the impact assessment. Those are difficult decisions, but ones that we are making for the right reason. After all, the risk of not delivering on the ambition of the payment is that we do not shift the curve on child poverty in the way that we know that we have to. That is why, given the commitment across this Parliament towards tackling child poverty and the collective agreement to target set, the support of all MSPs to enable the early introduction of this payment is crucial. Our progress report sets out the first year of action and the clear steps that we have taken towards genuine reductions in child poverty. Those actions demonstrate our commitment to eradicating child poverty and offer a glimpse of what is possible when we have the powers and the will to do so. The Scottish child payment on its own stands to be one of the most progressive policy proposals put forward since devolution. It will be backed by significant investment and Scotland will be the only part of the UK that is making such a serious commitment to reducing and ultimately eradicating child poverty. The Scottish child payment of £10 a week is bold and ambitious, and vitally it will reduce child poverty. Tackling child poverty head on is the only way that we can make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement, and I will allow around 30 minutes for that. Would members who wish to ask a question please press the request-to-speak buttons now, and I call Michelle Ballantyne. I thank the minister for the advance sight of her statement and I look forward to engaging with the Government on the development of the content of the document. I have two questions for you very quickly. Firstly, I note that there are not any numbers in the statement, so can the minister tell us what the Scottish child payments estimated delivery costs are in the interim and when fully rolled out? Secondly, I have to raise the concern because I find myself in the chamber again hearing that there will be delays to the management of some of the devolved benefits, and I wonder if the minister can give me assurance today that there won't be any further delays to those benefits. We have set out and I set out very clearly in my statement significant numbers associated with this policy. The biggest one, the most significant one, is the 30,000 children that will be lifted out of poverty by this action alone. The other number will be the 3 per cent shift in the child poverty curve that we have needed to shift for such a long time, made all the more difficult by Michelle Ballantyne's Government's actions. It is important to recognise that we will be significantly investing in the delivery of this. In the first full year of our early payments to under-six, costs will be around £70 million and then arise to £180 million in the first full year of all payments to under 16. I have to say, given that there was a report published today by the Child Poverty Action Group about the impact of the two-child limit, today it really is a story of two Governments. This Government committed to tackling child poverty head-on, while others in the rest of the UK are having to be feeling the brunt of UK Government's callous and punitive actions that are destroying lives across the country. Elaine Smith Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank the minister for the early sight of the statement, and we will, of course, require to scrutinise the supplementary papers and the progress report. Having consistently put the case for the need for interim measures prior to the implementation date of 2022 for an income supplement, Scottish Labour welcomes the fact that the Government has responded with proposals to put in place a payment to families with children under six years during this parliamentary term. However, the minister must recognise that the ambitious target that is set by this Parliament in 2017 to significantly reduce child poverty will not be met by this single measure alone, and we remain concerned for all other children living in poverty right now. The Scottish Government said at stage 3 in 2017, that we need to find ways to do more than just mitigate austerity and welfare reform, and, having mentioned the two child policy, the minister must ask why she will not even take steps to mitigate the so-called rape clause, which she has called a despicable policy. Given that the Resolution Foundation has predicted that child poverty is on course to continue rising over the next five years and to hit a 20-year high of around 29 per cent by 2023-24, can she please tell us what other further substantial measures the Government will put in place to ensure a dramatic reduction in child poverty over the next year? Aileen Campbell Well, today, Presiding Officer, I thought that I was announcing something that would be welcomed by Labour, given that they do and have asked for this, and given that we have made substantial efforts to tackle child poverty through this action alone. It is a game changer. Other poverty groups have welcomed this. It is a shame that Labour will not get behind this action. In terms of mitigating, what a pity that we cannot raise the debate on this. When we have the powers to deliver, when we have the political will and the resolve, this is the type of actions we can deliver. Imagine the reach of this policy if we did not have to mitigate the disastrous policies that are coming from another Government. If I welcome Aileen Smith's proposal to scrutinise the rest of the documents that we have published today, I would ask her to scrutinise every child, every chance document. That undertakes to comprehensively look at all the policies that were taken, not just in my portfolio, not just in Shirley-Anne's portfolio, but right across Government, because collectively in Government, we committed to tackling child poverty head on and have a range of actions there that will complement the delivery of the Scottish child payment to ensure that we can make and reach our interim targets. I have Rona Mackay followed by Alison Johnstone. I am absolutely delighted that the new payment has been introduced, as it will provide substantial support to people in my constituency as well as across Scotland. Can the cabinet secretary repeat again what the annual investment will be in this new benefit? I thank Rona Mackay for asking this question, because it gives us a chance to underline the investment that we are putting into the policy. In the first full year of our early payments to under-sixes 2021-22 costs will be around £70 million. That will rise to £180 million in the first full year of all payments to under-16s by 2022-23. That is a significant investment in children and families. It should also be seen alongside the more than half a billion pounds that we invest currently and have done in last year alone, supporting low-income families from across a wide range of policy areas. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. Across the board, means-tested payments have lower rates of take-up than universal payments. Child benefit, a trusted well-known source of support, is claimed by around 95 per cent of eligible families. Your analysis suggests that it would have better coverage. If the Scottish Government is not going to use child benefit as a route to boost family incomes, what assurances can the cabinet secretary give that every low-income family eligible for the Scottish child payment will receive it, especially as the gateway benefits that the cabinet secretary mentions are themselves underclaimed? Aileen Campbell. I also explained that we would also make sure that we would maximise uptake. The qualifying benefits will be universal credit, universal credit legacy benefits, including child tax credit, working tax credit, income support housing benefit, income-based jobseekers allowance and income-based ASA, a huge way in which we can target those who need the support most. It is also important to recognise that almost two-thirds of all children we expect to receive the payment live in the poorest 30 per cent of all households with children, and almost a quarter of all children we expect to receive the payment live in the poorest 10 per cent of all households with children. That will be as the child poverty action group has described a game changer in tackling child poverty. Lifting 30,000 children out of poverty shifts in the current three percentage points and making sure that the families who need it most get the support and get this payment into their pockets to uplift the children who need the support out of poverty. Alex Neil, followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton. I give an absolutely unequivocal welcome to this measure. The fact that it is being brought forward with implementation before the end of this parliamentary session is to be particularly welcomed. We all know the reasons why there has been a substantial rise in child benefit as a result of the major cuts to social security benefits imposed by the UK Government. Can I ask the cabinet secretary if she will also now look again at the policy on the living wage? If we move towards some kind of Brexit decision, one of the problems that we had was that, under EU rules, we are not allowed to make it compulsory for those gaining public sector contracts to pay their living wage. Given the new circumstances likely to arise over the next year or two, will she look again at whether we can now get to a position where we can implement that measure as NHS Health Scotland has shown that that too would be a very effective measure in dealing with child poverty? Alex Neil is absolutely right to point out the link. One of the drivers of poverty is around low income. We also have to tackle alongside that payment, making sure that people who are working get a fair remuneration for that effort and tackle in-work poverty. That is exactly why the work that is being taken across Government to ensure that more employers pay the living wage is so critical. Even though we do not have the levers at our disposal, Scotland has proportionately more people at the receipt of the living wage. That shows us with the will and the resolve that we cannot influence some of those decisions, despite not having the powers here as well. I would also point out to Alex Neil that, in every child and every chance, the report that we are publishing today, there is also a host of other ways in which we are supporting parental parents into work to ensure that they get the support that they need to get access to jobs and to progress when they are in employment. That comes with significant investment to ensure that we can enable parents to get the right work and jobs to lift themselves out of poverty. I thank the Government for the content of today's statement and offer the full support of those benches. I would also like to ask about uptake in the same vein as Alison Johnstone. Last week, Willie Rennie revealed to First Minister's questions that only a third of families affected by poverty with two-year-olds are uptaking the free childcare places that are available to them. As such, we know that uptake is not always great in government initiatives. Will the cabinet secretary undertake to report to Parliament on uptake as we proceed with the implementation of this policy? Shirley-Anne Somerville has to report back anyway. I would just mention some of the things that I said in the statement about the best start grant. That received unprecedented numbers of applications. I point to the fact that, if we take away the stigma, if we encourage people to apply, people will take up the benefits on offer. We will certainly make sure that we use and explore all avenues open to us through the new payment and the delivery partner, Social Security Scotland, to make sure that we maximise the impact of that and ensure that we work alongside those who are wanting to be part of this to maximise the uptake to make sure that people need it most to get access to that important benefit. Shona Robison, followed by Alison Harris. Can I also warmly welcome today's announcement? The UN's special rapporteur said that for devolved administrations mitigation was not sustainable. Do you agree with me that to have full powers over all social security, employment and other areas would ensure that we could use all levers available to pull more people out of poverty and not have to use resources to protect people from other Government's policies? Aileen Campbell, I agree. What strikes me as puzzling is why there are groans coming from the Labour benches through what is a very legitimate question to be asked. We are not content to just mitigate, we are not content to tackle those things with one hand tied behind our back, but we are not just going to sit back, which is why we are using the powers that we do have to deliver the benefits for those who need it most, not just content with mitigation, which seems to be where Labour is. Why would we be content to mitigate when we are working up against a Government that has been described as harsh and uncaring, which are politically driven and ideologically driven decisions around welfare, are consigning thousands of children into poverty? We will use the powers that we have, we will do what we can to mitigate where we can, but the UN rapporteur said that it was not sustainable to mitigate all the actions of the UK Government and we will continue to make sure that we can have all the powers that we need to tackle poverty more gently in the way that this party and this Government knows and wants to. Alison Harris, followed by Mark Griffin. As the cabinet secretary stated, on Monday, the Government announced funding for impact assessments for community-based out-of-school care, which will take two years to complete commencing April 2020. I know of frameworks to be published at the end of this summer, but can I ask when we will actually see new systems being put in place to deliver on the Government's commitment on out-of-school care for school-aged children from low-income families? The £3 million that we announced this week was designed to test new approaches to make sure that we can focus the care and support that is required for children of school age to enable parents to access work and training. That is why it is important that we test that, we test the flexibility, we test different ways in which that can be delivered. That is why I launched that fund with Mary Todd, to complement the work that she has taken forward and driving forward the transformational change in early learning in childcare. We will endeavor to make sure that Alison Harris is kept informed about the progress and the framework for that, and that she is kept informed because this is a critical part of ensuring that parents get the support that they need to get back into access to work, as long as that work is paying things like the living wage. Mark Griffin, followed by Tom Arthur. We absolutely welcome that the Government has listened to the voices of front-line poverty campaigners and Labour voices, who have consistently called for the early introduction of income supplement. I ask the cabinet secretary to do that on a completely constructive basis, if she shares concerns around using universal credit as a qualifying benefit. Given that she said herself in her own statement that children often go hungry because families have had to wait months for the first universal credit payment, universal credit is roundly and rightly being criticised. Can the Government not find an alternative way of delivering this payment? We have set out a comprehensive analysis of why this is the model and approach that we have taken. It is the same approach that we have taken for best start grant. It also makes the point that we are using those legacy benefits to make sure that we can tackle and target the right families who need the support most. While there were groans and moans around mitigation and not wanting us to call for the powers that we need, we have to work and deal with the world that we are in. That is the one that we are in and that is why we are taking the approach that we are. However, there is absolutely a comprehensive analysis of the reason why we are taking it to make sure that we do hit the right people and that they get the right families who require the support in the best possible way. Thank you, Presiding Officer. That announcement should be welcomed across the Parliament. I therefore ask the cabinet secretary what support she expects to get from other parties and ensuring that the new benefit is introduced in the right timeframe so that it can start working for children and families in my constituency of Renfrewshire South and children and families across Scotland. Aileen Campbell, I thank Tom Arthur for the question. I do underline what I said in my statement that this does stand to be one of the most progressive policy proposals since devolution, fitting given that we are about to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our Parliament being reconvened. Alongside our statutory child poverty targets and the wider actions that we are taking, it sets Scotland apart as being the only part of the UK that is taking such concerted action to reduce and eradicate child poverty. We are pleased in general that there seems to be, although there are grumblins, a degree of support, but it is absolutely incumbent upon us all. Given that we collectively signed up to the child poverty act, we have collectively signed up to hitting the targets that we need to hit in order to shift the curve in child poverty. The MSPs across this parliamentary chamber give their welcome, give their support for this new benefit and give their assurance today that they will seek to continue the payment if they ever reach administration. Alexander Stewart, followed by Stuart McMillan. Can I ask the cabinet secretary to confirm whether the new regulations for terminal illness will be introduced in the summer of 2020, or will this benefit also be delayed? Aileen Campbell—nothing has changed on that one. Stuart McMillan, followed by Gordon Lindhurst. I warm a welcome at this statement. I am sure that my constituents in Greenock and Inverclyde will do so as well, particularly the substantial measures in this statement. Can the cabinet secretary highlight other key priority areas to tackle inequality and reduce poverty? We will continue to work hard across the whole of government, recognising that that requires a whole-government approach to tackle child poverty, which, while we will continue to concentrate on the work that we are doing to support employment opportunities, support actions on the living wage, continue to provide the support through the financial health check and a whole range of other issues. Given that Marie Todd is here, we will continue to focus in on the early learning and childcare, delivered flexibly to ensure that families get the support that they need to enable them to go and access employment and training opportunities without having to face the burdensome costs that that means that they need to face. There is a whole range of actions that require our diligence and our commitment as a cross-government to enable us to reach the interim targets and, ultimately, the targets that we have set out in 2030. Gordon Lindhurst, followed by Aileen Gray. If I could just ask the minister if the Scottish Government will be bringing forward legislation as a basis for the new Scottish child payment, will there be primary or secondary legislation brought forward? If so, when might we expect to see that? Aileen Campbell. Thank you. We will be taking this forward through regulations, secondary legislation, and given that we will have over the summer months that opportunity to explore all the things that we need to make sure that we continue with the safe and secure delivery of social security payments, that we will be able to update the Parliament—my colleague Shirley-Anne Somerville will update the Parliament on some of that work and outline the ways in which we will take forward the regulations to deliver the payment. Iain Gray, followed by George Adam. The Scottish child payment, which all of my colleagues have welcomed this afternoon, is, as we have heard, demand-led and means-tested. Could the minister confirm that the budget figures that she gave just a few minutes ago are calculated on the basis of a notional 100 per cent take-up? Aileen Campbell. What we have done is to look and analyse a number of different approaches that analysis those projections are also published today in that open and transparent way that we need to do, and it is demand-led things. That is what we have based the figures on. The analysis is there for Iain Gray to look at and to come back with further questions. I am happy to answer those things, but this is about being a demand-led service delivered in the way in which we have outlined through the qualifying benefits, but we will stand to lift 30,000 children out of poverty at 3 per cent shift in child poverty rates, which is so important to enable us to hit the child poverty targets. George Adam, followed by Jenny Marra. I add my voice to welcome the cabinet secretary's announcement of the Scottish child payment, and I look forward to the differences that it can make in our communities. A lot of today's statements content has been covered by previous questions, so what are the other key priority areas to tackle inequality and reduce child poverty? Aileen Campbell. There are a range of actions and activities that we are taking forward to tackle child poverty. I think that one of the big things to point out to is that, within the every child every chance progress report, which shows that, alongside the significant announcement on the Scottish child payment, we are currently investing £527 in targeted support for low-income families across a wide range of programmes to make a long-term sustainable difference to children in poverty. That includes things that I have outlined within the statement that I made today. It includes the work that Shirley-Anne Somerville has taken forward. It includes the mitigation that we have to do to help protect those most vulnerable from the harsh realities of UK reforms, but it does not include the things that we all enjoy—the early learning and childcare, the education, the universal services, that social contract—that underpins the society that we in this Government maintain and hold dearly. Jenny Marra, followed by Angela Constance. I welcome the Scottish child payment that is made today. It is a good initiative and long overdue to help to tackle child poverty in Scotland and in Dundee, where 31 per cent of our children live in poverty. Will the cabinet secretary show some flexibility as she encourages take-up? I have had a constituent recently trying to take up the best start grant for a child's starting school and, as I have been told, it is not eligible, not on income but on the cut-off date because the child's school place was deferred. Can I ask her to perhaps look at this in terms of eligibility for the best start grant but also encourage flexibility as she approaches this welcome new policy? People who defer, as I understand it, can apply, but absolutely if you want to set out the specifics and correspondence, we will make sure that you get the information, the support and any actions that we need to take and we will make sure that we can deal with the points that you raised, because we also want to make sure that we do maximise uptake, and so if there are things that we can learn, we are absolutely happy to do so. The last requested question is Angela Constance. Thank you, Presiding Officer. For as long as I have breath, I will always campaign for the full powers of independence, but given that this Parliament made an all-party commitment to use our existing powers and resources to end child poverty, how will the cabinet secretary build consensus on not just what we will spend money on but also on the tough choices that will have to be made on what we do not spend money on if we are to focus our resources, focus our efforts and raise the debate and take on the challenge of ending child poverty? Aileen Campbell. I thank Angela Constance for her question and also pay tribute to her when she took forward the act and the delivery plan and set in path the actions that we are reporting back on today, which are going to have a fundamental and transformative impact on children's lives and future life chances. She is right to point out that the issues that we grapple with demand tough choices. I outlined the tough choices and the hard decisions that we had to make today in order to find and carve out the space to deliver the much-needed bit of support for families across the country. The progress report captures the actions across the whole of government. Whether it is the economy or education, every cabinet secretary needs to be guided by the principles of creating a more fairer and equal country. My job, as her job had been before me, is to be the one who ensures that those voices of those lived experiences, those voices who experience poverty, are not forgotten, to speak up for the folk who are not heard, who are disempowered and who are surviving but not thriving, ensuring that the decisions that we take as a Government are examined through the lens of child poverty to generate those better decisions that we need to see happening. It is the only way that we will ever make good on our national performance framework, which I fundamentally and genuinely believe in, because that does not just value the success of our society based on GDP alone, but on the depth of our humanity, the kindness, dignity and wellbeing. All of those things will ensure that we as a Government take the right decisions and take those tough choices, which might be bumpy. However, if we have the collective support of this Parliament, we can overcome those bumps because, ultimately, where we want to go is a country that is fairer and has children's rights and our eradicating of poverty as well. I have had a last-minute request that I can accommodate. I very much appreciate that, Presiding Officer. I welcome Cabinet Secretary for Child Payment, which will benefit 410,000 children across Scotland. The Cabinet Secretary mentioned the required alteration of the new disability assistance, benefits timetables, and, except that, that will absolutely be required. Can I ask if she is confident that new claimants for disability assistance and reassessments under Social Security Scotland can still be carried out by Social Security Scotland as opposed to the DWP by the end of the lifetime of this Parliament? Aileen Campbell. Nothing is changing in relation to the question that Bob Dorris has asked me. We will make sure, given his position as the convener of the Social Security Committee, that we will make sure that he is furnished with all the implications for this, to make sure that he has got all access to the analysis and the implications of this, and we will also make sure that he gets a letter to make sure that he has a clarity of what this announcement means in terms of the other benefits that are delivered by Social Security Scotland. That concludes questions in the ministerial statement on tackling child poverty delivery plan first year progress report, and we shall move on to the next item of business very shortly.