Over a third of Saltcoats and Stevenston kids living in poverty

The two towns recorded the eighth-worst level of child poverty out of Scotland’s 353 council wards.

And North Ayrshire as a whole recorded figures of 27 per cent – the third worst in Scotland, behind Glasgow and Dundee.

The appalling figures were this week branded a disgrace by politicians.

The statistics were released by the Campaign to End Child Poverty. The campaign group said it was the first time local child poverty had been mapped by taking housing costs into account.

In the North Ayrshire and Arran Parliamentary constituency, there are 3,013 children living in in-work poverty and 1,447 in out of-work poverty.

For Kilbirnie and Beith, the figure stood at 27.1 per cent, in Dalry and West Kilbride it is 23.63 per cent and in Ardrossan and Arran it is 22.36 per cent.

But the most shocking figures centred on Saltcoats and Stevenston, which ranked alongside some of the worst inner-city poverty traps in Scotland.

The worst level in Scotland was in Glasgow’s Springburn, which has 43.62 per cent of children living in poverty.

Others just ahead of Saltcoats and Stevenston included Southside Central (42.33 per cent), Calton (41.31 per cent), Anderston/City (39.24 per cent), Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages (36.03 per cent) and Sighthill and Gorgie in Edinburgh (35.31 per cent).

Glasgow had the worst overall child poverty, with a total figure of 33 per cent, followed by Dundee at 28 per cent, then North Ayrshire at 27 per cent.

That put the constituency ahead of such areas as East Ayrshire (26 per cent), Inverclyde (26 per cent) and South Ayrshire (20 per cent).

By contrast, the Shetland Islands had 10 per cent of youngsters living in poverty and East Dunbartonshire had 13 per cent.

Local MP Katy Clark said: “The last Labour Government made real progress in reducing poverty across the United Kingdom, taking 1.5 million children out of absolute poverty. Sadly, this progress has stalled since the current Government took office and we can now see the devastating impact that this has had on children in North Ayrshire.

“This can come as little surprise. The IFS has shown that a key reason why poverty fell between 1997 and 2010 was increased investment in social security measures such as tax credits. These troubling figures are therefore an inevitable consequence of this Government’s austerity measures such as the bedroom tax and one per cent uprating cap on a range of both in and out of work benefits.

“These statistics also demonstrate that the Scottish Government have failed to give Scottish families the support and protection which they require. Funding for anti-poverty measures have been stripped back to the extent that Professor Arthur Midweather has concluded a billion pounds has been diverted from them.

“I very much hope the Smith Commission will result in Scotland being given further powers to address child poverty however in the meantime the Scottish Ministers should be using the powers that they already have to provide effective assistance to those on low-incomes.” MSP Kenny Gibson said: “That so many children live in poverty in a wealthy and resource rich country like Scotland is a disgrace. After taking housing costs into consideration, 27 per cent of children in North Ayrshire - more than a quarter – are living below the poverty line.

“That is unacceptable and unsustainable which is only worsening as the UK Government’s austerity agenda continues to bite. This is why I believe that powers, including those over tax and welfare essential to tackle poverty and inequality should be in Scotland’s hands, rather than those of a distant and disengaged Westminster establishment.

“For too long Westminster politicians have accepted poverty as inevitable, with Tory and Labour MPs alike choosing to squander tens of billions of pounds on nuclear weapons rather than investing in people “By devolving substantial economic and welfare powers to the Scottish Parliament, we would have the opportunity to take action to address this appalling situation and create the environment in which every child in Scotland has the opportunity to flourish and prosper in life.

“However, even with the limited powers Scotland has, the SNP Government is taking a sustained approach to tackling poverty and inequality despite our efforts being undermined by the UK Government’s welfare reforms.

“Building on our expansion of childcare provision, we will deliver our commitment of free school meals for all primary 1 to primary 3 children, worth £330 per year for around 170,000 children. Our living wage commitments and concessionary travel, free prescriptions, free eye tests, free personal care and freezing the council tax for the eighth year, particularly support households with the lowest incomes.” The chairman of End Child Poverty David Holmes said: “These figures reveal just how widely and deeply child poverty reaches into our communities, even those areas generally regarded as well off. Far too many children whose parents are struggling to make a living are suffering as a result and missing out on the essentials of a decent childhood that all young people should be entitled to. We can and must do better for our children.

“Poverty ruins childhoods and reduces life chances. Failing to invest properly in children is a false economy: already child poverty costs the country £29billion each year and in the long run taxpayers will foot an even higher bill for correcting the damage.

“We are calling on politicians of all parties to urgently set out a clear roadmap towards ending child poverty which includes the additional actions needed and the measures by which progress will be tracked.” NHS Ayrshire & Arran added: “Our aim is not only to increase life expectancy but to extend healthy life expectancy. We recognise that North Ayrshire has areas of deprivation and this can mean that healthy life expectancy is harder to achieve. Community Planning Partners in North Ayrshire recognise this and have been developing an Inequalities Strategy that people in North Ayrshire will soon hear more about.

“As well as this, we have many on-going projects aimed at informing people and supporting them to live healthier lives. Our top four priorities for improving public health are reducing alcohol intake, helping people to stop smoking, working to encourage local people to achieve a healthy weight and supporting people’s mental wellbeing. This will bring a range of benefits to them and the area in the future.”