More than 292,000 baby boxes have been delivered to expectant parents since the launch of the scheme in 2017 – providing them with around £420 worth of essential items for their newborn.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said Baby Boxes give families reassurance that, regardless of their circumstances, they will have access to essential items needed for the first six months of their newborn’s life.
Ms Somerville also reiterated calls for the UK Government to announce more funding to help families struggling with the cost of living when it publishes its Spring Budget.
Modelling estimates that Scottish Government policies will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty and 70,000 children out of absolute poverty in 2024-25, with the respective child poverty rates 10 percentage points and 7 percentage points lower than they would have been without these policies.
If the UK Government were to remove the two-child limit and reinstate the family element in Universal Credit, it is estimated this would lead to a further 10,000 fewer children in Scotland living in relative and absolute poverty in 2024-25, while introducing an Essentials Guarantee would lead to a further 30,000 fewer children living in relative and absolute poverty.
Background
APS Group (Scotland), which has the managing agent contract for Scotland’s Baby Box, conducted a cost analysis which determined that if parents were to buy the box and all the contents individually, the cost would be approximately £429.
I’m Graeme’s Parliamentary Assistant based at Holyrood, but I support his constituency work as well. Having been Caseworker to an Aberdeenshire MP some years prior, joining Graeme's team in 2019 was a return to this line of work from a role in fundraising.