This year’s Assembly, sponsored by the Scottish Government and NHS Health Scotland, will again provide an opportunity to discuss, debate and prioritise the actions we need to make a bigger impact on poverty in Scotland. A key focus will be feeding into the development of the Scottish Government’s Social Justice Action Plan, due to be published in early 2016.
Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance:
“The is the 6th Scottish Assembly for Tackling Poverty and we are delighted to once again bring people from all over Scotland together to think about the type of Scotland we want to live in and how we achieve that.
“Today’s assembly will feed into the Scottish Government’s social action plan, and by the end of the day we hope to have a firm list of key priorities for the next five years.
“With new powers for the Scottish Parliament on the way, now is the time to think about how we use these to achieve a fairer Scotland”.
Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil said:
“The Scottish Assembly for Tackling Poverty is an important opportunity to highlight and discuss how we can address the unacceptable levels of poverty in Scotland.
“We need to close inequality gaps which is why through our Fairer Scotland discussions we have been asking people with direct experience of poverty and exclusion to put forward their views on creating a fairer and more equal Scotland.
“These conversations will feed into our forthcoming Social Justice Action Plan and help inform how we deliver our social security powers, ensuring that our approach is based on fairness and that people are treated with dignity and respect.”
Gerry McLaughlin, Chief Executive of NHS Health Scotland said:
“We are pleased to sponsor this year’s Assembly as it creates an opportunity for partners to come together to address the impact of poverty in our communities. Poverty continues to be a fundamental cause of health inequalities in Scotland and as an organisation, we are committed to working in partnership across the public, private and third sector to reduce health inequalities and improve health.”
For more information contact carla.mccormack@povertyalliance.org or call 07853860893
