Charities are angry about a range of omissions in the new legislative agenda

The Scottish Government’s new Programme for Government (PfG) has come under fire from across the voluntary sector.

Charities are angry about a range of omissions in the new legislative agenda, which was set out by First Minister John Swinney at Holyrood yesterday (Wednesday, 5 September).

He drew fire from across the sector – particularly over the lack of a commitment to a Human Rights Bill and the ditching of a pledge to roll out free school meals to every primary pupil.

Read more about the reaction to the omission of a Human Rights Bill here.

Human rights

The Scottish Food Coalition, an alliance of over 50 civil society organisations in Scotland, slammed what it called “broken promises” on human rights.

The Human Rights Bill was the Scottish Government's flagship legislative initiative. It was set to incorporate into law economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to food.

In Scotland around one in 10 people experience food insecurity. The Human Rights Bill was set to place statutory responsibilities on the Scottish Government to ensure everyone in Scotland can access food with dignity and choice, ending the foodbank culture and shifting the focus onto rights and government obligations. It was part of 2023/24 Programme for Government has already undergone extensive public consultation.

There had been numerous attempts to incorporate right to food into Scots law, including through Rhoda Grant MSP’s Right to Food Bill and as part of the Good Food Nation Act.

Anna Chworow, deputy director at Nourish Scotland, said: "If the government is committed to delivering on human rights, it must enshrine that commitment into law. Not doing so breaches the trust with the people of Scotland and denies access to justice to those whose rights are compromised."

The Independent Food Aid Network and foodbank providers the Trussel Trust also criticised the Scottish Government.

Let down at the lack of a Human Rights Bill extended to the sector’s health charities. Allan Cowie, chief operating officer at Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland (pictured above), said: “We are disappointed the Scottish Government has missed this opportunity to improve access to rehabilitation through the Human Rights Bill. Access to rehab is a human right, but too many people struggle to get the support they need. The Scottish Government must improve access to rehab so everyone can live life to the full.”

Children and child poverty

Prior to announcing the PfG (which didn’t include the rolling out of free school meals), FM Swinney had said that eradicating child poverty would be his administration’s driving impulse and its “first priority”.

John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland said the FM is correct to prioritise this, but added: “His recognition that the government “must do more” is welcome. But while reforming public services so that hard up families can easily access support is vital, those services need to be available and adequately funded in the first place. The harsh reality is that ministers are falling behind in resourcing the childcare, housing and employment actions that government has already committed to and that families so desperately need.”

More broadly, he said that the Scottish Government’s approach to child poverty is the right approach, with Scottish Child Payment – a major campaigning win for the third sector - lifting between 40 000 and 60 000 children out of poverty.

But there must be a step change in the pace and scale of action. 

Dickie continued: “We recognise the first minister faces serious fiscal challenges, but as he himself said we are a prosperous country. Given that pressures on public finances are so tight the first minister also needs to look at making more use of the devolved tax powers at his disposal to harness the undoubted wealth the country has to help deliver on his child poverty objectives and sustain public services.”

Fiona King, policy and public affairs manager for Save the Children said: “We are devastated for the 240,000 children in poverty across Scotland whose voices just don’t feature loudly enough in this Programme for Government. It shows little progress and no new policies that will accelerate progress towards ending child poverty.  While it’s welcome to see that the eradication of child poverty is a top priority for the first minister, we are not seeing the bold action that backs this up.

“It’s time to double down on commitments like the Scottish Child Payment, which is making a difference for low-income families across Scotland, not to pull back from them. We have cross-party, legally binding child poverty targets and we – like many – are concerned about how these are going to be met by 2030.”

Mary Glasgow, chief executive of Children 1^st, pictured above, reflected this concern, saying: “We welcome the commitment to tackling child poverty, but we are deeply concerned that the drastic cuts to public spending will throw many children and families already in crisis over the edge.  

“The first minister’s recognition of whole family support is positive but lacks clarity and specific plans to make this a reality, with resource to match need. We know that at present vital family support services are being lost. 

“With less money available we need to do things differently. Children are stuck on waiting lists for services that are already overwhelmed. They need help at an earlier stage to avoid even more costly interventions down the line.  

“As a society we are failing children and families. They cannot wait for change. They need investment and meaningful reforms and early support to keep them safe.”   

Fiona Steel, national director for Scotland at Action for Children, said: “We’re particularly disappointed the anticipated Promise Bill has been omitted. In 2020, the nation made a promise to care experienced children and young people, but this Programme for Government has pushed back much needed change for another year.”

Citizens Advice Scotland’s spokesperson Emma Jackson said: “In a just and compassionate Scotland, none of us can be content with the fact that one in four children in Scotland are forced to endure the devastating impacts of poverty. It is right that the first minister committed to delivering coordinated and holistic family services that are easy to access and focus on prevention and early intervention.

“While this announcement is something that many of us have been calling for, too many families still do not have enough money to pay for the essentials that we all need. Getting more money directly to those who need it is fundamental to tackling child poverty.”  

There were warmer words from Joanne Smith, NSPCC Scotland’s policy and public affairs officer. She said: “It’s heartening to see the first minister’s explicit focus on the early years. In a challenging context, we need strategic leadership and coordination to ensure that money is spent where the evidence tells us it will make the biggest difference to babies, children, families and communities.

“Delivering the government’s ambitious vision for children requires cultural, structural and legislative change. A critical first step must be urgent reform of the Children’s Hearing System to protect the distinct needs and rights of babies who come into the care system.

“Getting it right for our most vulnerable citizens must become Scotland’s number one investment priority.”

Poverty and wider policy

Oxfam Scotland said the PfG announcements must be followed by fair tax reforms to ensure promises are backed up with funding. 

It welcomed plans for a new Heat in Buildings Bill to accelerate the essential switch to clean heat in Scotland’s homes but said it will require additional investment to deliver meaningful change.  

However, the NGO criticised ministers for failing to introduce bills focused on delivering a fairer and better future by shelving plans for the Human Rights Bill and a Wellbeing Sustainable Development Bill which, once implemented, would have become the roadmap to a Scotland that thrives, not just for us, but for our children, our grandchildren, and beyond. 

Jamie Livingstone, head of Oxfam Scotland, pictured above, said: “Without decisive devolved tax reforms to fairly raise more money, this Programme for Government risks being full of half empty and underwhelming promises. 

“Commitments on clean home heating systems and enhancing support for low-income families are encouraging, but with emergency spending cuts this year, we’ll continue facing the same predictable gap between commitments and cash.  

“Scottish Ministers must use devolved powers to introduce far reaching tax reforms that target wealth to help ramp up their ambition and turn their promises into progress.”

Poverty Alliance chief executive Peter Kelly said: “It’s good that the first minister talked about his strong commitment to ending the injustice of child poverty in our wealthy nation. But before today’s PfG, more than 100 of our members came together calling for action like boosting the Scottish Child Payment to £40 a week, affordable housing, and the delivery of stronger social security through a Minimum Income Guarantee. Many of these calls were not progressed within this PfG.

“The first minister was right to highlight the importance of welfare advice services that help people get the support they’re entitled to through social security. While a continued commitment to invest in the third sector is positive, the Scottish Government need to be clear as to how they will deliver long-standing promises for fair funding for the community and voluntary organisations that deliver that advice.

“He talked about affordable childcare and extra support to help people into work – but these commitments need to be matched with adequate investment. The Poverty and Inequality Commission have been clear that existing interventions are not at the scale necessary to deliver the change needed to meet our child poverty targets.

“He talked about closing the attainment gap in schools. But the latest figures show that children from poorer backgrounds are still being held back by poorer educational outcomes, so we need to hear what the Scottish Government is going to do differently.

“We welcome the fact that a Community Wealth Building Bill will be introduced into Parliament. But we need to make sure that it puts the voices of people in poverty at its heart, and starts to build new local economies that place wellbeing at their heart, and start to lessen Scotland’s unjust inequalities of wealth and power.

The environment

Climate campaigners criticised the lack of climate action in the PfG, saying that ministers are “refusing to learn from their own mistakes”.

Despite the climate failures revealed during the last parliamentary term leading to the decision to scrap the critical 2030 climate target, the Scottish Government has brought forward no new meaningful action to bring down climate-changing pollution.

In fact, the Scottish Government will bring forward a bill to scrap annual climate targets including the critical 2030 goal and move to a five year carbon budgets approach.

The criticism from environmentalists comes on top of the swingeing cuts announced or confirmed yesterday to green measures that could have improved lives.

Friends of the Earth Scotland climate and energy campaigner Caroline Rance (pictured above) was damning. She said: “There is next to nothing in this programme that shows the Scottish Government is serious about getting back on track on climate or supporting people in the transition away from fossil fuels.

“This is a desperately weak approach to climate action and SNP ministers are clearly refusing to learn from their own mistakes. Since the abject climate failure which ultimately cost the previous first minister his job, John Swinney has gone further into reverse, rolling back on oil and gas, hiking the cost of trains and slashing funding for environmental schemes.

“Action to tackle climate change is popular, necessary and would improve people’s lives, bringing down electricity bills, improving public transport while cutting air pollution, creating decent new jobs and a healthier society. The Scottish Government is choosing to make climate cutbacks instead of these positive investments which it could fund through raising taxes on the highest earners and polluting activities.”

Mike Robinson, chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, was slightly more ameliorative, saying: said: “This PfG provides some cautious room for optimism, but far too little.

“It was a critical test of whether the Scottish Government is serious about rectifying its failing climate record by urgently accelerating emission cuts in ways that make our homes warmer, our air cleaner and that protect our land and seas.

“While there are some welcome commitments, like the promised bill on clean heating and to deliver a plan to reduce car use, we need much more detail to assess whether they will meaningfully benefit people and planet, and these must now be delivered at pace.

“Critically, we also know that unless we also fairly raise more money to adequately fund the planned measures, their speed of delivery will be too slow and their impact will again fall far short of what’s needed.”

Housing

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) warned that the PfG falls short on what’s needed to tackle the country’s housing emergency. 

Chief executive Sally Thomas said: “With nearly 10,000 children growing up in temporary accommodation, and the number of homes started by housing associations at the lowest level since the 1980s, we must now see action on funding for affordable rented housing in the Scottish Government Budget in December.

“We know the Scottish Government is facing deeply difficult financial constraints, but affordable rented housing is fundamental to all of the first minister’s priorities, and must be protected. At SFHA, we are ready to work with government and other partners to achieve this.”

Shelter Scotland says the proof of the first minister’s ambition to tackle the housing emergency will come in the budget later this year.

The charity said that delivering more social homes remains the only way to reduce the number of children stuck in temporary accommodation in Scotland.

Following the declaration of a housing emergency earlier this year Shelter Scotland warned that words had to quickly turn into actions.

Shelter Scotland director, Alison Watson, pictured above, said: "Delivering more social homes remains the only way to reduce the number of children stuck in the homelessness system. Without those social homes the first minister's laudable ambition of ending child poverty will be impossible to achieve.

"The proof that there's more than just words behind that ambition will come in the budget later this year; if the Scottish Government is serious about tackling the housing emergency then it needs to set a meaningful target for delivering social homes by the end of this parliament and reverse recent brutal cuts to the housing budget.”