Executive ministers claimed the target for fighting child poverty in Scotland had been met while figures in England remain short of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s goals set seven years ago, which aim to wipe out child poverty in Britain by 2020.

While the figures show that 80,000 children across Scotland and 700,000 across the UK have been lifted out of poverty, they also reveal that £3.4 million British children are still at risk of growing up in poverty.

After the announcement, Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm said the figures showed the success of Government schemes to reduce poverty but recognised the need for more work to improve the lives of Scotland’s poor.

“We are giving people training in essential skills for working, through Modern Apprenticeships and the Sector Skills Councils. We are also developing an Employability Framework to help the most disadvantaged move towards and into sustained work,” he said.

“For families with children, our Childcare Strategy continues to provide affordable, accessible, quality childcare across Scotland. We've also set up the Working for Families Fund, ensuring that childcare is not a barrier to parents in deprived areas entering education, training or employment.

“Working Tax Credits have helped put more money into pay packets of low-income workers, and we'll keep working with the UK Government to maximise benefit uptake in Scotland.”

Representing the Anti-poverty Forum in Dundee, Jim Milne welcomed the progress but said the main cause of the reduction in poverty in areas like Dundee was tax credits which mask the low quality of jobs available to many workers.

“We emphasise that to sustain the progress there needs to be a review of the tax-credit scheme, which a lot of mothers in low income families in Dundee depend on to keep them out of poverty.

“Recently there have been a lot of problems surrounding over-payment of credits. Those who have been overpaid have been taken off the scheme altogether until they can prove again they are eligible, leaving them at greater risk of return to a life of poverty.

“We are joining a call for an amnesty on these over-payments, which would write off the excess money and allow those families to remain on the benefits they are entitled to.

“We also think there is a need to target families who are not claiming their free school meals and to tighten the criteria around how councils are able to use government grants for clothing. Dundee city council were recently given a grant of £760 to help families pay for school uniforms in Dundee but a third of that was used for the general education budget.

“Without greater measures I can’t see these figures being sustained by government finances.”