Nationalists have accused the Scottish Executive of being more interested in "fiddling the figures" on child poverty than in tackling the problem.

The claim came as the executive unveiled its annual social justice report and announced an extra �31m to deal with poverty over the next three years.

The Scottish Executive said the cash will be spent on "initiatives that help families find their way out of the poverty trap".

It also pledged to use the money to meet its long-term objective of eradicating child poverty within a generation.

Margaret Curran: "Closing the opportunity gap"

Details of how the cash is to be used will be disclosed at a later date.

Social Justice Minister Margaret Curran announced the extra money during the launch of the executive's third social justice annual report.

"I will use this money to develop other initiatives to find routes out of poverty and to promote the social economy and new investment in deprived areas"

The 2002 social justice annual report concludes that:

• the proportion of children living in a household where no one is in work has fallen from 19% to 14% in the last five years;

• the employment rate for lone parents is now at 56% - an increase of 14% since 1997;

• the proportion of older people living in low income households has fallen from 28% in 1996/97 to 24% in "relative terms"; and

• mortality rates from coronary heart disease for people aged 65 to 74 have fallen by 16% since 1999.

However, the Scottish National Party claimed the figures showed the proportion of children in poverty has risen from 28% in 1999-2000 to 30% in 2000-2001, an increase of 10,000.

This, claimed the SNP, compared with a level of 19% when Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979.

"It is a matter of national shame that over 300,000 children live in poverty in Scotland," said SNP leader John Swinney.

"Despite this, Labour are more interested in fiddling the figures than in tackling the problem."

He said his party would tackle child poverty as a priority and would fight for tax and social security powers to enable poorer families to keep more of what they earned.

"And we will report progress warts and all, without the spin and manipulation that Labour has indulged in," said Mr Swinney.