Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 1 – National Targets, Strategies and Reports (Sections 1 to 18) Section 11: Scottish strategies
52.Section 11 (subsection (1)) requires the Scottish Ministers to publish and lay before the Scottish Parliament the first Scottish child poverty strategy within 12 months of Royal Assent.
53.Subsections (2)(a) and (b) specify that this strategy must set out the measures that the Scottish Ministers propose to take to contribute towards achieving the UK targets in sections 3 to 6 and to ensure as far as possible that children in Scotland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage.
54.Subsection (3) requires that before the end of the period to which a Scottish strategy relates, the Scottish Ministers must review the strategy and publish and lay before the Scottish Parliament a revised Scottish strategy. Strategies must be published every 3 years; however, there is no requirement under this section to publish revised strategies after the beginning of the target year.
55.Subsection (4) concerns the content of a Scottish strategy. Subsection (4)(a)(i) requires the strategy to describe the progress the Scottish Ministers intend to make over the period covered by the strategy in contributing to the meeting of the targets in sections 3 to 6 by the end of the target year. Subsection (4)(a)(ii) requires the Scottish Ministers to set out in the strategy the progress that they intend to make in the period covered by the strategy in achieving the aim of ensuring as far as possible that children in Scotland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage. Subsection (4)(b) requires the Scottish Ministers to set out in the strategy the progress (other than that which is a result of ensuring that the targets are met) they intend to make by the end of the target year to ensure as far as possible that children do not experience socio-economic disadvantage.
56.Subsection (5) requires a revised Scottish strategy to describe: the measures taken in accordance with the previous Scottish strategy, the effect that those measures had on progress towards meeting the targets in sections 3 to 6 and other effects of those measures that contribute to the aim of ensuring as far as possible that children in Scotland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage.
57.Subsection (6) provides that a Scottish strategy may not include proposed measures that relate to reserved matters, within the meaning of the Scotland Act 1998.
58.Subsection (7) requires the Scottish Ministers to lay before the Scottish Parliament an annual report describing: the measures taken by the Scottish Ministers in accordance with the Scottish strategy; how those measures have contributed to meeting the targets in sections 3 to 6 and the aim of ensuring as far as possible that children in Scotland are not affected by socio-economic disadvantage.
59.Subsection (8) makes provision about the dates by which the annual reports must be laid before the Scottish Parliament.
60.Subsection (9) specifies that the period to which a Scottish strategy relates is three years from the date on which the strategy is laid before the Scottish Parliament, except when a strategy is laid before the Scottish Parliament less than three years before the beginning of the target year, in which case the period runs from the date it was laid until the end of the target year.