Devolution & entrenched household poverty: is Scotland less mobile?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Devolution & entrenched household poverty: is Scotland less mobile?

AU - Morelli, Carlo

AU - Seaman, Paul

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - The Scottish National Party led Scottish Government has identified household poverty as a key focus for its anti-poverty strategy.The government’s ‘Solidarity Target’ seeks to both increase wealth and increase the share of total income gained by these three deciles. The ability to demonstrate the advantages of policy divergence within Scotland, relative to the other parts of the United Kingdom, is central to the Government’s aim of gaining support for increased powers for the devolved government. This paper seeks to provide evidence on one aspect of the government’s anti- poverty strategy; the degree to which Scotland differs from the rest of the UK over levels of entrenched poverty. The paper demonstrates that not only does Scotland have greater entrenched poverty but that the changes in mobility since the 1990s have impacted on Scotland to a lesser degree than the rest of the UK.

AB - The Scottish National Party led Scottish Government has identified household poverty as a key focus for its anti-poverty strategy.The government’s ‘Solidarity Target’ seeks to both increase wealth and increase the share of total income gained by these three deciles. The ability to demonstrate the advantages of policy divergence within Scotland, relative to the other parts of the United Kingdom, is central to the Government’s aim of gaining support for increased powers for the devolved government. This paper seeks to provide evidence on one aspect of the government’s anti- poverty strategy; the degree to which Scotland differs from the rest of the UK over levels of entrenched poverty. The paper demonstrates that not only does Scotland have greater entrenched poverty but that the changes in mobility since the 1990s have impacted on Scotland to a lesser degree than the rest of the UK.

U2 - 10.1017/S1474746409004904

DO - 10.1017/S1474746409004904

M3 - Article

SN - 1474-7464

VL - 8

SP - 367

EP - 377

JO - Social Policy and Society

JF - Social Policy and Society

IS - 3

ER -