Low-income family appeal
BY ANDY PHILIP Political Correspondent
MORE than 100,000 children might miss out on a new Scottish benefit to combat poverty.
Independent body the Scottish Fiscal Commission estimates there will be a take-up rate of 74 per cent, down on the SNP’s figure of 83 per cent.
The gap led to calls for a campaign to target as many low-income families as possible.
Green Party MSP Alison Johnstone warned yesterday: “It is concerning that support aimed at Scotland’s children might not get to as many as 100,000 of them.
“If we are to meet legal targets to drastically reduce child poverty, we must ensure all support aimed at our poorest families gets where it needs to go.
“The Scottish Government has ambitious targets for reducing child poverty but to meet them, families need to get what they are entitled to.”
The Greens had called for a child benefit top-up but the Scottish Government said their system will reach people faster.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission estimate represents 287,000 children by the year 2024-25, below the 389,000 in the Government forecast.
The Scottish Child Payment was announced last year as key part of the country’s new devolved social security system.
The payment, worth £10 a week, will be available for all eligible under-16s by 2022, at a cost of £180million a year. It aims to reduce child poverty by three per cent.
Unlike UK child benefit, there will be no cap on eligible children.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “If we had followed other proposals to top up child benefit, it would have taken much longer to introduce the Scottish Child Payment and no one would be getting payments this year.
“Instead, we are delivering at unprecedented speed for any Scottish or UK benefit.”
DISGRACED movie mogul Harvey Weinstein faces dying behind bars after being convicted of rape and criminal sexual assault.
The 67-year-old sat emotionless as he was yesterday found guilty of the rape in the third degree and criminal sexual assault in the first degree of two women.
The powerhouse film producer was cleared of the two most serious charges of predatory sexual assault that would have seen him automatically sentenced to life in prison.
He was also found not guilty of a fifth charge of rape in the first degree.
Weinstein faces up to 25 years behind bars and there is a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for the more serious
BY CHRIS BUCKTIN reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk criminal sexual assault conviction when he is sentenced on March 11.
After the verdicts were read out following almost 27 hours of deliberations, Weinstein was led away in handcuffs to the cells, having had his previous bond revoked.
His lawyers, who are to lodge an immediate appeal, had tried to have the rapist held until his sentencing under “house arrest” citing “letters from his doctor,” but the judge refused.
He is now expected to be detained at the Manhattan jail where Prince Andrew’s paedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein took his life while awaiting underage sex trafficking charges.
Weinstein’s conviction came after six women gave testimony during his four-week trial in New York.
They testified he had sexually assaulted or raped them although he only faced criminal charges in connection to aspiring actress Jessica Mann, 34, and production assistant Miriam Haleyi, 42.
He was found guilty of rape in the third degree in relation to Mann and criminal sexual assault in the first degree in Haleyi’s case.
The verdicts provided some comfort to the scores of women who had come forward with similar allegations against Weinstein since he was first accused four years ago.
For many, the trial was a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement and a crucial test in the effort to hold powerful men accountable for sexual harassment in the workplace.
A lawyer representing ‘’The Silence Breakers’’ – women who
● October 5, 2017 The New York Times exposes allegations of sexual harassment against Weinstein from former colleagues, including actress Ashley Judd. ● Police in Britain and the US say they have opened investigations into Weinstein. ● October The #MeToo movement is sparked by actress Alyssa Milano as a response to the floods of reports about alleged abuse.