6. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on its on-going targets to tackle child poverty of any reduction in local government funding. (S6O-01921)

There has been an increase in local government funding of £793 million compared to last year, which means that we are providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 local government settlement.

The Scottish budget sets out the planned investments, including through local authorities, which are key to tackling child poverty. Those investments include almost £70 million to scale up parental employability support and around £1 billion in early learning and childcare provision.

Decisions on the spending of the rest of the local government budget are devolved to local authorities. We would encourage local authorities to make the investments that they are making to add to those initiatives to help tackle child poverty.

How can the Government justify leaving Midlothian Council—the council area in Scotland with the fastest-growing population of people, many of whom are families who are struggling with the serious increases in the cost of living—with a budget shortfall of nearly £14 million? How does the Cabinet secretary imagine that, with that burden, that council and many others like it will be able to meet wider anti-poverty targets?

The Scottish Government has made tackling the cost of living crisis a key priority. We are doing what we can within our powers. In the previous financial year, we allocated around £3 billion to support families, including with our major investment in the Scottish child payment, which is literally helping to keep food on the table with £25 per week per child for eligible families. We are investing more than £84 million in discretionary housing payments to provide direct financial support to people who are struggling with housing costs, in order to mitigate United Kingdom Government welfare policies such as the benefit cap.

We are doing what we can. Many of those initiatives are delivered through local government, but it would not be fair to say that this Government has not done absolutely everything within its power to help families at this difficult time.