Professor Kezia Dugdale chairs launch of Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s landmark poverty report
Published: 13 October 2026
13 October 2026: Associate Director of the Centre for Public Policy Professor Kezia Dugdale chaired the launch event for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s landmark Poverty in Scotland 2026 report, published on Monday 5 October.
13 October 2026: Associate Director of the Centre for Public Policy Professor Kezia Dugdale chaired the launch event for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s landmark Poverty in Scotland 2026 report, published on Monday 5 October.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published its annual Poverty in Scotland report for 2026 on Monday 5 October, which says that one in five children in Scotland remain in poverty. This and other key findings from the report were shared at a launch event hosted by Associate Director of the Centre for Public Policy, Professor Kezia Dugdale.
After a welcome address from Professor Dugdale, policy analysts from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shared key findings and messages from the report, before a response to the report was presented by Shirley-Ann Somerville MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing in the Scottish Government.
As part of the event, Professor Kezia Dugdale chaired a panel discussion between Laura Miller, CEO of Fife Gingerbread; Councillor Mark Flynn, Leader of Dundee City Council; Shirley-Ann Somerville MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing; and Chris Birt, Associate Director for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Kezia put key messages of the report to the panel, including its warning of ‘an “increasing disconnect” between Scottish Government rhetoric on child poverty and the reality facing families’.
The report looked in particular at the role local councils play in reducing poverty, which was also discussed by the panel. The report says, ‘people do not think their local authorities are well enough funded to deliver the services needed in their area or are doing enough to tackle poverty’.
The panel discussion closed with a Q&A session with the event audience.
Read Poverty in Scotland 2026 by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Listen: UofG Spotlight - Tackling Poverty in 2026
Charlotte Gorman, co-author of the Poverty in Scotland 2026 report, appeared on the Centre for Public Policy’s UofG Spotlight podcast on Monday, to talk about the report’s findings.
Hosted by Professor Kezia Dugdale and Dr Claire MacRae from the Centre for Public Policy, they discuss child poverty and Scottish government targets, local councils and the role they play in poverty reduction, and more.
Listen:
First published: 13 October 2026