ANAS SARWAR has demanded the Scottish government commit to quadrupling the value of its child payment to tackle poverty and meet statutory targets. 

The Scottish Labour leader spoke out over concerns about the current failures on child poverty targets ahead of the publication this week of the programme for government.

In 2017, Holyrood passed the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act, mandating that by 2023-4 less than 18 per cent of children should be in relative poverty, and that by 2030-1 the number should be fewer than one in 10. Despite this, child poverty in Scotland has been rising and now sits at 26 per cent, equivalent to one in four children.