 I will now move on to the next item of business. As I see, the front bench has changed position, and the next item of business is a statement by Shona Robison on tackling child poverty progress report. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I have published the third annual progress report due under the Child Poverty Scotland Act 2017. Over this unprecedented year, we have done everything in our power to support children and families impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and to continue driving progress on our ambition to eradicate child poverty. We have built upon the strong supports that are established to date and worked with partners to deliver entirely new support, rising to the challenge and demonstrating the capacity and capability to make significant change at pace. The report published today highlights that all 66 of the actions that we have previously reported on are either in progress or being delivered. It also highlights that the scale of our investment targeted at low income families with children continues to grow. Rising to £978 million in 2020-21, including £118 million of targeted investment made through our response to Covid-19. This is part of almost £2.5 billion invested to support low income households, including over £434 million of Covid-related investment in social assistance. However, the report also highlights the scale of the challenge that we face in eradicating child poverty in Scotland. We know that the Covid pandemic will make reducing poverty that much harder, so let me be clear that that is why we must work together across Scotland to deliver the change that is needed. Over the past year, we have continued to take action against each of the three key drivers of poverty and have stood up a wide range of new support to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and protect children and families, working in partnership with local authorities and wider partners, including the third sector. We have made strong progress to maximise household incomes through social security, with the introduction of three new benefits, each offering completely new support, unavailable elsewhere in the UK. That includes our job start payment, which supported over 230 young parents to transition into work, with payments of £400 to meet essential costs, and our child winter heating allowance, which supported over 14,000 children, and put £2.8 million in the pockets of families with the most severely disabled children, helping ease financial pressures caused by winter fuel costs and the Covid pandemic. Notably, we delivered on a landmark commitment commencing payment of the game-changing Scottish child payment in February for eligible families with children under the age of six. Our 10th benefit is worth £40 every four weeks, and I'm delighted that we've made payments for over 78,000 children worth over £3.6 million by the end of March. We introduced new pandemic support payments to provide immediate financial support to families in need, reaching nearly 145,000 children and young people. We'll build on this approach to deliver bridging payments of £520 each year until the Scottish child payment is rolled out in full at the end of 2022, as committed to. We will fulfil one of our 100 days commitments by paying a further £100 for each child around the start of the summer holidays in addition to the £100 paid at Easter. Importantly, we've now committed to doubling the Scottish child payment by the end of this parliamentary term, increasing payments to £80 every four weeks, and we'll look to do this as early as possible, putting money directly in the pockets of families who need it. We've also delivered new action to reduce living costs and ensure access to essentials. This includes launching Connecting Scotland in May 2021 of the most comprehensive national programmes aimed at tackling digital exclusion in the world. Since then, the programme has supported over 17,000 families with children and 4,000 young care leavers, helping them to get online and access the benefits that digital connectivity can bring. To tackle food insecurity and reduce the strain on family budgets, we invested over £56 million to support the continued provision of free school meals during school closure, periods of online learning and school holidays for around 156,000 children and young people, promoting a cash-first approach as parents know best what they need. We'll continue the support across the forthcoming school holidays, alongside commencing the expansion of our universal free school meal offer for all primary school children. Despite the impacts of the pandemic, we've also continued to deliver progress on our action to increase incomes from work and earnings. In 2020-21, more than 4,500 workers saw an increase in their earnings as a result of the living wage accreditation, and we've applied fair work first criteria to over £2.4 billion of public sector grant funding so far, helping to deliver fairer workplaces for workers across Scotland. The impact of the pandemic has meant that it has not been possible to deliver the progress that we had anticipated on all commitments. However, we have taken ambitious and realistic steps to ensure that we deliver those as quickly as possible and go further in the future. For example, our expansion of early learning and childcare is now set to be completed from August this year, but we know that over half of councils are already delivering the expanded offer of 1,140 hours to families. Given the importance of childcare to families, we have set out the next stage of our ambition to further expand childcare and develop a wraparound childcare system, providing care before and after school all year round. We will complete delivery against our 50,000 homes target from the previous parliamentary term as soon as possible, and we have committed to deliver a further 100,000 affordable homes by 2031-32. We have committed a further £8.65 million this year for our parental employability support fund, bringing total investment to over £23 million since 2019 and enabling even more parents to benefit from this service. We have also extended our commitment to fair start Scotland until 2023 to ensure that demand for employment support can be met moving forward. We are determined to maintain the pace and determination with which we responded to the Covid pandemic, and that is why, in addition to the measures that I have already mentioned, we have committed further steps to be taken in the first 100 days of this Parliament. That includes delivering our ambitious summer programme for children and young people, and further increasing both the minimum value of school clothing grants and our best start food payments. In Scotland, we are serious about ending child poverty, and we have committed a wide range of action to do just that. Early analysis on the impact of our Scottish child payments suggested that it could move 30,000 children out of poverty when paid at £40 every four weeks. Doubling it will enable us to go even further. However, the UK Government's cut of £20 to universal credit threatens to knock out the benefit of this ambitious measure and to push 20,000 Scottish children into poverty. With the Scottish Government quite literally giving with one hand whilst it is taken away with another, that is a disgrace that our efforts to tackle child poverty are at risk of being undermined by a regressive UK Government policy and a broken welfare system. Presiding Officer, we have declared a national mission to eradicate child poverty. We know the scale of the challenge that we face, and while the Scottish child payment is one game-changing policy, we need more, right across government to deliver the change required. This Government is hugely aspirational. Our commitment to explore the feasibility of a minimum income guarantee, which could be revolutionary in our fight against poverty, is a clear demonstration of our ambition for Scotland. Cabinet recognised that this is a cross-government responsibility, and we are 100 per cent committed to doing everything in our power to deliver the change needed using every lever at our disposal. However, it is not just government who needs to act. We need to take a Team Scotland approach and work collectively to eradicate child poverty. It will take this Parliament, Civic Scotland, the public sector and businesses included to do everything that they can to support those efforts. We will shortly commence consultation on our next tackling child poverty delivery plan to be published by the end of March 2022. We will, upon the action taken to date, and upon the strong evidence base established, will be guided by the recommendations and challenge offered by the Poverty and Inequality Commission and the blueprint of the social renewal advisory board. We will work closely with our partners, experts by experience and with children and young people in the plans development. As the report published today demonstrates, we are already taking wide-ranging action, but we must do more. I ask that you all help us to do just that. I call upon members to support us in taking action required to come forward with ideas, and I want to assure you that my door is always open to positive, serious suggestions. I ask you to back the Government in eradicating the blight of child poverty once and for all. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we will move on to the next item of business. It would be helpful if members who wish to ask a question were to press their request to speak buttons now. I call Miles Priggs. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. There is welcome cross-party agreement and support across the Parliament for the actions outlined to help tackle child poverty, including the doubling of the Scottish child payment. Many in the sector are asking what is preventing and holding up ministers from taking steps to double the Scottish child payment as soon as possible. The cabinet secretary states that this will be, and I quote, by the end of this parliamentary term, some five years, and we will look to do this as early as possible in the same paragraph. Can I therefore ask why the Scottish Government will not commit to a date for this to be delivered? One key area that the cabinet secretary has not touched upon is the Scottish Government's record on children living in temporary accommodation. The latest Scottish Government statistics show that there were 7,900 children living in temporary accommodation in Scotland, a 9 per cent increase from 2019-20. We all know that a safe and stable home is vital for child's wellbeing and development. After 14 years of this SNP government, the situation is getting worse and worse, especially here in the capital. Can I therefore ask the cabinet secretary what plans the Scottish Government will put in place to ensure that we end the number of households with children and pregnant women living in temporary accommodation and how that will be prioritised by the Scottish Government? I thank Miles Briggs for his questions. First, on the Scottish child payment, as Miles Briggs acknowledged, there is a huge game-changing policy in the fight against child poverty. Our manifesto, as I said earlier, commits us to doubling the payment to £80 per month by the end of this Parliament, which has been widely welcomed. However, we recognise the need for urgent action, and we will double that payment as soon as it is practical. We are considering the timetable for this increase, taking into account the impact on child poverty, legislative, delivery and financial considerations. I will make an announcement in due course, but I recognise as an appetite to go as quickly as we can. Miles Briggs also talked about children in temporary accommodation. Miles Briggs will be aware of the enormous efforts that have taken place during Covid-19 to try to ensure that people are in safe accommodation. I do not want anybody living in an unsuitable temporary accommodation. It is one of my top priorities to try to resolve that. He has alluded to the fact that there are regional variations in that, and some areas are more difficult to tackle than others. I want to engage with local authorities and housing associations within each of the areas to look at what more we can do. The 100,000 homes that we have delivered, our affordable homes are important, and the commitment to 100,000 more affordable homes is important, 70 per cent of which are for social rent. That will make a big impact, but I know that there is more to be done. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. It is a tragedy but sadly no surprise to any of us in the chamber that right when we need to do more, we are set to miss the child poverty targets set by this Parliament by 4 per cent. The poverty alliance and civic society are crystal clear and united that to move towards giving people a life free from poverty, we must double the Scottish child payment immediately. Today the Government is committed to doing that by the end of this Parliament, but that is not soon enough. I ask the minister what is the hold up and if not now when. I share the Government's concern around the removal of the £20 uplift for universal credit, so I find it hard to understand why it is not preparing to use its power right now to mitigate that. The fact that single-parent families, people of colour and families with disabled people or carers in them are more likely to live in poverty. They are being hit the hardest. A minimum income guarantee is needed to lift those people from poverty and ensure that we lift them above the poverty line. This Government has committed to a minimum income guarantee, but when will it begin to take steps towards this and can it outline what those will be? As the minister knows, it is my view that we cannot successfully reach a minimum income standard without making changes across government. Will the minister commit today to making a minimum income guarantee an organising principle for this Government? I thank Pam Duncan-Glancy for her questions. I will start with the minimum income guarantee first. I hope that she will not mind me sharing that we had a very constructive discussion about some of the issues around minimum income guarantee when we met just last week. I want to get the steering group up and running. It is one of our 100-day commitments, as she will be aware. I want to look at the feasibility of introducing a minimum income guarantee. We discussed the fact that that could encompass not just cash but in kind support across a myriad of areas of government. That work is important, and I can assure her that I want to see it progress at the earliest opportunity. On the Scottish child payment, as I said to Miles Briggs, we want to bring forward the doubling of the Scottish child payment as quickly as possible, but I am sure that she will recognise that, even in the 100 days that we have brought forward delivering the bridging payments of £520 each year until the Scottish child payment is ruled out in full to those who are in need. We are currently not eligible to full at the end of 2022, as committed to, and that will fulfil one of our 100-day commitments. I do not think that it could be a fair accusation that this Government is not going fast enough to try to put money into the pockets of families who need it most. The cabinet secretary will recognise that the UK Government's two-child policy is a major driver of child poverty, and that the UK benefit cap will still enforce this misery for many families, even if the two-child policy did not exist. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me, in organisations such as the Child Poverty Action Group, that both policies must go, and can she advise on what actions the Scottish Government will take to help support families impacted by these draconian measures? I very much agree with Mary McNair. To her, the Scottish ministers have written to the UK Government on four occasions since the start of the pandemic, calling upon the measures that trap many families in poverty to be scrapped. Over time, more and more families will be affected by the Calis-2 child cap. 8,500 families across Scotland have been denied entitlement for their children by April 2019, and in the long run up to £120 million a year could be cut from benefit spend in Scotland, pushing 20,000 children into poverty. Similarly, the damaging impacts of the benefit cap have been highlighted through the pandemic, with cases nearly doubling to 6,500, with 97 per cent of households containing children. I would reiterate my call. It is the UK Government's responsibility to ensure that their policies provide adequate support, and I hope that this Parliament can unite in calling them to do so. In the statement that the Government talks about working in partnership with local authorities, wider partners and the third sector, funding was set aside specifically to support disabled parents to access employment. Can I ask the cabinet secretary to confirm whether that funding has in fact been distributed to all local authorities, and if not, can a timescale be given as to when it will be? First of all, the partnership with the local government is important, and it is one of the main delivery partners in terms of many of the programmes that are outlined. I will write to the member on the specific question about the moneys to local authorities for parental employment, but that is a key pillar of the support to families. I will make sure that families are supported into work, reducing the cost of living and providing supports in cash and kind to families. I will follow up on that question and write to the member. Fiona Hyslop to be followed by Karen Mocken. The OECD report into education this week found that there has been apparent improvement in tackling poverty-related attainment and that the impact of socioeconomic status on performance is among the lowest across the OECD countries, while there is also a greater proportion of resilient young people from less well-off backgrounds who perform at high levels. That is quite a turnaround to previous OECD reports. As building resilience has been core to the SNP Government's early years education and development agenda, can the cabinet secretary commit to driving forward that early years agenda by working in partnership with the cabinet secretary for education in tackling the impact of poverty on children? I thank Fiona Hyslop for her question. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills has underlined the importance of the OECD's findings and recommendations. As I said, we are investing £1 billion over this Parliament to close the attainment gap with record funding of more than £215 million in 2021-22, which will help to provide targeted help for some of the most disadvantaged children and young people. We recognise that more must be done to maintain that relentless pursuit of equality in education. In addition to that, that is why we are introducing free school lunches for primary 4 children as a first step to delivering free school breakfast and lunches for all primary school pupils. I mentioned the best start food funding and the school clothing grant. All that is taken together is important. I am keen to work with the cabinet secretary for education and skills to see what more we can do as I want to work with every cabinet secretary and minister to make sure that we double our efforts to tackle child poverty. The Scottish Government rightly recognised that low pay is at the heart of child poverty, and it is an issue that should preoccupy everyone right across this country. Why, then, will this Government not commit to paying carers a workforce largely made up of seriously underpaid women with childcare responsibilities £15 an hour? She raises an important point about the social care workforce, and she will be aware of the work that is going on around the building of a national care service of which pay and conditions is a key part of that. It is important in this agenda, for a very important reason, that the three pillars that I talked about, the first being about employment, of course the care services are mainly female workforce supporting families. That is a really important pillar in making sure that we support those families and that workforce. I am confident that the issue of paying conditions will be taken forward and improved as part of the building of the national care service. We know that increasing household incomes from working earnings is one of the key ways to effectively tackle poverty. Can the cabinet secretary outline what impact the parental employability support fund will have on tackling poverty? It is one of the key three pillars of tackling poverty. We have now committed over £23 million since 2019 in the Parental Employability Support Fund, which provides employability support for parents to help them enter and progress within the labour market. The fund has a strong focus on each of the six priority family types identified in the tackling child poverty delivery plan, providing locally tailored support, which is responsive to need. Our 2019-20 progress report estimated that around 11,500 children could positively benefit from our investment in the fund, with parents seeing increases in their take-home earnings directly impacting on child poverty targets. Can the cabinet secretary outline what assessment of the current likelihood of meeting with child poverty reduction targets without new and additional action? I am looking at the cabinet secretary and I think that she has struggled to hear that in terms of the recording quality. Can the cabinet secretary repeat the whole question if that would be helpful? What is the Scottish Government's assessment of the current likelihood of meeting with child poverty reduction targets without new and additional action? It is tough, is my immediate response. I have laid out in this report, which I hope everybody has a look at, the extensive actions that have been taken by this Government, but I have also said very clearly in my statement that even all of that taken together and all of the investment is not going to be enough. That is why we have committed to, across the whole of Government, redouble our actions, look at absolutely everything that we do through a child poverty lens and whether it works to reduce child poverty. That is crucially important. I would also make to Jeremy Balfour that we could end up with all that work on trajectory to hit those targets but be prevented from doing so because of the actions of the UK Government in, for example, reducing the £20 universal credit uplift. I would implore him and his colleagues to make those representations to the UK Government because it would be a travesty if, on the one hand, the Scottish Government is making progress towards meeting those targets but is being held back by the actions of the UK Government welfare policy. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of the statement and the report. In her statement, she referred to the Scottish child payment as a game changer in the fight against child poverty, but it won't be a game changer for the children who are eligible but don't receive it because their families are unaware of it, not supported to claim it or put off by the toxic demonisation of benefits claimants. The Scottish Fiscal Commission projected in January that by 2025-26, around 99,000 children will be eligible but will not be receiving the payment and I think that that would be nothing short of a national disgrace. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that all families who are eligible will receive this payment? Maggie Chapman makes a very important point about awareness of the Scottish child payment. She may be aware that Social Security Scotland has, from the start, taken very much a view of promotion of awareness of entitlements, which is maybe a bit different from the position taken by the Department of Work and Pensions. It is very much the job of Social Security Scotland to promote awareness of entitlement, but it is not just its job, it is all of our jobs, it is the job of health visitors, teachers, social care staff, anybody, GPs who come into contact with families that they think may be eligible to make sure that they heighten awareness. One of the important projects is the co-location of benefit advisers and GP surgeries, for example. We should miss no opportunity to make sure that families are aware of their entitlement, not just of the Scottish child payment but of all the other entitlements that they may be able to claim. Neil Gray is followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton. I welcome my friend Shona Robison to her place back in the cabinet. The impact of Covid on poverty is going to be a big challenge for us to address. On Monday, I took part in a meeting with the poverty alliance and groups across Scotland about just that. A clear issue highlighted was around renteriors and indebtedness. Can she outline what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the impact of removing the £20 per week uplift to universal credit that would have to debt and poverty levels in Scotland and what work she has done to persuade the UK Government to make it permanent? I thank Neil Gray for his question. I have very much enjoyed working with him on the social justice and fairness commission. The Scottish Government analysis published in November estimated that removing the £20 uplift and reinstating the minimum income floor would reduce benefit spend in Scotland by £476 million in 2021-22. Although the UK Government has extended those measures to the end of September, the scale of the loss to families will be hugely significant if it is cut. Removing the uplift, as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlighted, even with the uplift, families unable to work are still £1,600 a year worse off now than they were back in 2011. That is why we have written to the UK Government seven times calling for them to make the uplift permanent and to extend it to those in receipt of legacy benefits. Neil Gray also made a point about renteriors, and I recognise the importance of that. That is why the Deputy First Minister announced the establishment of a tenant grant fund to add to the other measures that we are trying to take to help people who have been impacted by Covid-19 during the pandemic in terms of their renteriors. Alex Cole-Hamilton, to be followed by Fulton MacGregor. The Scottish Liberal Democrats campaigned for years to convince the SNP of the value in offering funded childcare to two-year-olds from deprived backgrounds. Supporting children in their early years is one of the most effective ways of driving down the attainment gap. It also helps parents to return to work by easing the burden of childcare costs and by extension it drives down and work poverty. Statistics released last week show that there are still more than 8,000 two-year-olds missing out on that entitlement. What will the Scottish Government do to improve that terrible take-up rate and deliver flexible childcare to those who need it most? As I said in my statement, the expansion of early learning and childcare is now set to be completed from August this year. Of course, half of councils are already delivering the expanded offer of 1,140 hours to families. Given the importance of that, we have set out the next stage of our ambition to further expand childcare. We will develop a wraparound childcare system before and after school all year round. It makes an important point about two-year-olds. As I said, one of the three key pillars is about cash and kind support. Wraparound childcare is one of the most important in-kind support to families that can make such a big difference in lifting them out of poverty. That is something that I will be working with my Cabinet colleagues to make sure is delivered. Fulton MacGregor. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Interventions such as a child, the Scottish child payment, will make a huge difference, but while the majority of powers to tackle child poverty remain reserved to Westminster, there will always be a limit to what can be achieved. I know that the Cabinet Secretary made reference to that in her opening remarks, but I wonder if she can provide further examples of areas where the Scottish Government is unable to act to tackle child poverty because it is reserved. Fulton MacGregor is that, although around 15 per cent of social security spend is devolved to the Scottish Parliament and it is our job to make the most of that spend in tackling child poverty, 85 per cent of the spend is not. It remains at Westminster, including key income replacement benefits such as universal credit, which, of course, we have already outlined the damaging effect of withdrawing the £20 uplift and, of course, the benefit cap and the senseless to child limit just add to those issues and those problems. With full powers over social security, we could, of course, deliver a system that is fit for purpose, treats people with dignity and respect and which tackles and reduces poverty. Similarly, if we had powers over employment powers, we could make the real living wage mandatory. We could outlaw unfair fire and hire tactics and ban inappropriate and exploitative use of zero-hours contracts. That is just a few ideas of the potential that we could have if we had powers in this place over those matters. That concludes the statement. Before moving on to the next item of business, I am required to remind members that social distancing measures are in place in the chamber and across the Holyrood campus. I ask that members take care to observe those measures, including when entering and exiting the chamber.