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A council in one of the most deprived parts of Scotland has accused the UK Government of blocking attempts to give poor children free school meals and uniform grants.

Officials from Inverclyde Council – where one in four children lives in poverty – hit out at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for refusing to allow it to reuse council tax data to tackle child poverty.

Council leader Stephen McCabe said the DWP’s refusal was “totally incomprehensible” and pledged to take the fight to the Scottish Government. The row centres on data given by the DWP to the council for Council Tax Reduction, a benefit helping poorer families pay their tax bill.

Labour minority-run Inverclyde Council wants its finance department to share this information with education officials, who handle free school meals and uniform grants.

This would mean eligible children would get help without the need for applications.

McCabe said: “Given one local child in four lives in poverty, there are few things which are a higher priority for us. We see using information from the DWP as an important step in achieving this goal.

“The DWP is more than happy to cross reference information to combat benefit fraud.

“However, it seems to see no benefit in using information it has already given to one council department to make sure children in need receive the help they are entitled to.”

A DWP spokesman said the law doesn’t allow such data sharing but tackling poverty “will always be a priority” and it would work closely with its partners.