Tackling child poverty agenda in Scotland is at a pivotal point, with any new administration facing challenging targets to reach by 2030; preventative approaches to policy are also gathering interest. Read our response to the tackling child poverty delivery plan scothealthequity.org/assessing-th...
Last month, we held a series of stakeholder engagement sessions to discuss our recent work on health inequalities and young adult men. Read our reflections here: scothealthequity.org/men-and-heal...
For the full story on these developments, see here: scothealthequity.org/prevention-w...
At the same time, there are some opportunities for Scotland to improve: the alcohol & drug strategy acknowledges that socioeconomic factors play into deaths from drugs & alcohol but misses an opportunity to target action to the populations where these deaths are most concentrated.
There’s a lot of good work happening in Scotland’s prevention space, with PHS progressing system-wide prevention through its 10-year strategy and its investigation into transport poverty, and PAS adding to our knowledge on social participation & inequality.
Our March edition of Prevention Watch is out: PHS’ new 10-Year Strategy & transport poverty review; Parenting Across Scotland’s report on access to hobbies for young people; work on young adult men and prevention; Scotland’s new Alcohol & Drug strategy.
scothealthequity.org/prevention-w...
This report is a welcome contribution to the body of evidence on prevention as a means to address the long-term costs of our public services. Read the report here: digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBrie...
SPICE’s final report, published earlier this week, looks at the factors that have contributed to the challenges in creating and implementing preventative policy; as they succinctly put it, “what is preventing prevention?”
digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBrie...
Earlier this year, SHERU consulted with researchers at SPICe to discuss the ongoing need for prevention-based policies and the need to implement prevention into budgeting activities.
digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBrie...
Until we see sustained reductions, the link between poverty and unequal health outcomes will remain. Read the Fraser of Allander Institute’s full summary here: fraserofallander.org/child-povert.... SHERU will also be putting out its own response, so watch this space.
Behind the figures are real impacts. Growing up with fewer resources affects health, learning, and future prospects from the earliest years. Poverty shapes life chances long before adulthood. It’s also about more than targets. It’s whether children have the conditions to thrive.
These stats have been reclassified as official statistics in development and revised from 2021/22 after a method change. This links survey data with admin records on social security benefits and tax credits to correct for a known undercount of benefit receipt through the survey.
Overall poverty also fell slightly. Around 17% of Scotland’s population (940,000 people) were in relative poverty after housing costs, down from 18% in 2021-24. Absolute poverty stands at 18% (around 1 million people), down from 20%.
Following the Scottish Government’s final child poverty delivery plan, new stats out yesterday show both relative and absolute child poverty fell by 1 percentage point in 2022-25 compared to 2021-24. Relative child poverty after housing costs was 21% and absolute poverty was 23%.
Concern for inequality was high, and people presented a range of opinions on how to improve key determinants of inequality, including employment, housing availability, and housing quality.
View the full report here: scothealthequity.org/poverty-prev...
In a report out today, we discuss our findings from this survey and look at differences between groups across Scotland. People gave very different answers depending on their gender, ethnicity, and their area’s level of deprivation or rurality.
scothealthequity.org/poverty-prev...
Last year, we worked with ScotCen to include 11 questions about health inequalities & prevention in the annual Scottish Social Attitudes survey. Crucially: 94% of the population thinks it’s important for the Scottish Government to reduce the health gap between rich & poor people.
Looking at Scottish social attitudes towards preventative health and policy, and discussing the health context in party manifestos with @healthfoundation.bsky.social
swww.eventbrite.com/e/views-on-health-policy...
🔷 New webinar 🔷
🗳️ Views on health policy and prevention: a look to the Scottish election
🕙️ Thursday April 23rd, 10-11am
www.eventbrite.com/e/views-on-h...
A recording of our webinar "Refreshing the National Performance Framework" is now online.
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jGk...
Featuring Mairi Spowage @fraserofallander.org Sarah Davidson @carnegieuk.bsky.social and Ali Hosie (Scottish Human Rights Commission).
In the meantime, we thought it would be helpful to provide an overview to this programme and lay it out.
Check out today’s article here: scothealthequity.org/employabilit...
NOLB is delivered by local authorities and is an exceptionally complicated policy. It’s difficult to understand, track, & evaluate. It’s also an evolving policy space. In the coming months, we’ll be publishing more work on its implementation, data, & theory.
scothealthequity.org/employabilit...
It’s worth noting that “employability” is not “employment:” employability programmes work with individuals to develop the skills & systems they need to move into work.
scothealthequity.org/employabilit...
We have a new article out today which lays out what we do and don’t know about No One Left Behind, Scotland’s strategic framework and funding stream for employability.
scothealthequity.org/employabilit...
In the meantime, don’t forget to sign up to our webinar on Refreshing the National Performance Framework: www.eventbrite.com/e/refreshing...
Young adult men in Scotland continue to face devastating rates of death from drugs, alcohol, & suicide. This webinar will present findings from 2 recent pieces of work on the underlying causes, highlighting a concerning rise in poverty among young men in Scotland.
www.eventbrite.com/e/young-adul...
🔷New SHERU webinar🔷
❤️🩹 Young adult men and the drivers of health inequalities
www.eventbrite.com/e/young-adul...
