The Deputy First Minister said when budgets are tight then measures to tackle poverty are a choice that must be taken.
She said tackling poverty was preventative spending that helps the economy overall and said the current Scottish Government’s aim was eradicating child poverty.
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Forbes was speaking at an event at the SNP Conference organised by Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland.
Forbes said: “One of the things I’m proudest of when finance secretary was ensuring we had funding to start the journey of the Scottish Child Payment.
“With extremely difficult and constrained budgets it came down to choices.
“We chose that we had to fund the Scottish Child Payment. The purpose is to eradicate child poverty.”
She made a case for universal benefits.
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Forbes added: “There’s a lot of discussion about universal benefits. It reduces stigma.
“You don’t want a baby box, no problem no-one is going to ram it down your throat.
“But you don’t need to prove to someone why you need it.”
Where it doesn’t work, she said, was when the Scottish Government’s impact is just to undo the impact of another government.
She criticised the new UK Labour Government for its early decisions on the two child tax credit cap.
Forbes added: “A government that kept the two child cap and the only response is a review is not going to give us much hope.”
The Deputy First Minister, who returned to government when John Swinney took over as First Minister, explained why she believed tackling poverty was essential and outlined some personal observations about people experiencing poverty.
She said: “The moral argument is that the experience of children in poverty from the youngest of ages leads to a childhood of trauma, exhaustion and they are expected to grow up and make decisions earlier than children not growing up in poverty.”
She spoke of her sister starting a career as a primary teacher and her own experience as a new mother.
Her sister, she said, told her she was dealing with children aged four and five who were hungry and not having their own bed, then being expected to come to school and learn.
She added: “Teachers in these situations become the front line in recognising and responding to poverty” which she described as “a scourge on society”.
The Deputy First Minister said becoming a mum brought her into contact with others dealing with the cost of “a brand new life”.
She added “That’s my own personal sense of burden. That this really matters.”
She added: “The stats all point to this being one of the biggest interventions we can make to support the justice system, the NHS and support the economy.
“The Scottish Child Payment recognises a simple thing. It puts more money into people’s pockets, empowers people to make decisions and reduces stigma.”
