Outlining his vision for eradicating child poverty in Scotland yesterday, Mr Swinney focused on the Scottish Government’s plans to remove the two child benefit cap, a move he said will benefit thousands of families.

In his address to representatives from community and third sector organisations at an event in Stirling hosted by The Robertson Trust, Mr Swinney said his vision “includes increased investment in affordable housing” and bemoaned the “resources that are needed to repair the damage caused when a child is brought up hungry, or lives in a damp or a draughty home”.

In response to his statement, Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson has argued that the housing problem should be tackled at the source by investing in affordable homes first.

Ms Watson, said: “It is not right tens of thousands of children are living in poverty in Scotland. We are glad the First Minister is recognising the scale of child poverty and pledged to address the issue, and we know we can’t tackle child poverty without tackling child homelessness.

“There are over 10,000 children trapped in temporary homes and to give them the best start in life we must provide them with safe and secure housing.

“By delivering more social homes, it will build a better future for these families by offering them stability and security. It will also support economic growth and create new jobs, while strengthening our communities and tackling the root causes of Scotland’s housing emergency.”

During his speech, the First Minister repeated calls for the UK Government to bring an immediate end the two child benefit cap which would allow his administration to allocate its mitigation towards other measures to tackle eradicate child poverty.

The First Minister said: “The eradication of child poverty is my government’s number one priority, and I want it also to become our nation’s number one goal.

“The cornerstone of our approach is investment in more dignified and generous social security support.

“It includes the resources we need to build the systems that will allow us to effectively remove the two child cap for families in Scotland.

“I can offer two guarantees today. Firstly, if we are able to safely get the systems up and running in this coming year, the first payments will be made in this coming year – helping to lift thousands more children out of poverty.

“And secondly, if the UK government does the right thing and abolishes the two-child cap across the UK, the resources we have committed to this policy will continue to be used on measures to eradicate child poverty in Scotland.”