Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to nearly one third of Ukrainians being displaced from their homes. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 7.6 million Ukrainians had been displaced across Europe.
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has taken a closer look at Scotland’s Homes for Ukraine Scheme, six months after it was introduced.
You can read it here: https://spice-spotlight.scot/…/displaced-ukrainians-in…/
On 5th September, the Conservative party elected a new prime minister of the United Kingdom. Scotland has not voted for a conservative government since 1955, and Liz Truss marks the twelfth prime minister in the last hundred years elected without majority support in Scotland (writes Fraser of Allander Institute’s ALLISON CATALANO).
The last time Scotland’s vote mirrored the majority was in 2005 – the last time that a general election resulted in a Labour majority.
The Brexit vote in 2016 is another good example of how far Scotland’s opinion differs from that of the UK majority – less than 40% of Scottish voters approved the referendum to leave the EU, compared to more than 50% from Wales and England.
Scotland’s status as a minority among the UK electorate isn’t so surprising from a population standpoint – Scotland only accounts for about 9% of the total UK electorate. England, by contrast, claims 84% of all voters.
The vast difference between Scotland’s opinion and UK electoral outcomes may result in worsened well-being for the Scottish population. People derive a sense of satisfaction from having the ability to participate in and impact politics and governmental structures. This satisfaction, termed “democratic well-being,” is weakened by perceived or structural inequalities.
Participatory inequality stems from any situation in which a particular group is unlikely to or discouraged from some form of civic participation, which includes behaviours like voting, interacting with political campaigns, activism, or volunteering.
Examining voting in particular, Scottish voters may feel disenfranchised from the political sphere in the UK because of the perceived lack of political power on a national level, and may be less likely to choose to vote or express an interest in politics.
Certain groups in Scotland may also be more or less inclined to participate in national or local elections.
Income levels, health, and educational attainment may all result in different levels of participation both within Scotland and when comparing Scottish participation to the rest of the UK. In this sense, there may be participatory inequalities within the Scottish population and when comparing Scotland to the UK as a whole.
Using Understanding Society: the UK Longitudinal Household Survey, we determined that age, income, health, education, and employment statuses are correlated with an individual’s level of interest in politics, and the likelihood that they voted or volunteered recently. Understanding Society is a yearly panel survey, with yearly data available from 2009 to 2021.
Scotland has a high level of average engagement across all survey years relative to Northern Ireland and Wales, but a lower level than England.
Figure 1: General election voter participation by constituent country
Figure 2: Interest in politics by constituent country
Despite Scottish residents being relatively politically engaged, Scotland experiences substantial gaps in participation based on health, income, education, and employment.
Figure 3: The gap in civic participation between self-reported good health and bad health is wider for each behaviour in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK
Health and income inequality are consistent predictors of voter turnout in Scotland. Scotland’s wide range of participatory behaviour based on health is particularly interesting.
Scotland has a unique relationship with health inequalities, and a history of unusually poor health outcomes based on region, education, and income. Although health inequality takes many forms, life expectancies provide a good frame of reference.
In general, higher incomes beget longer lives. Scotland is a complete anomaly in this regard – despite having the highest average income in the United Kingdom, Scottish people have the shortest life expectancy.
Life expectancies also vary widely within Scotland, and even within cities and neighbourhoods. For instance, a male born in Glasgow between 2018-2020 has a life expectancy that is 7.5 years shorter than one born in the Shetland Islands.
Within Glasgow neighbourhoods, the difference in life expectancies is striking – males born in the least deprived areas can expect to live 15 years longer than males born in the most deprived areas.
I examined the health impacts on voting, volunteering, and political interest based on individual’s self-perceived general health, mental health, long-term illness or disability, and receipt of any illness or disability benefits.
Individuals that consider themselves in poor health are less likely to engage in civic behaviour compared to those that considered themselves in generally good health (Figure 4). Overall, self-perceived general health was the most significant health predictor of civic behaviour.
Figure 4: Inequalities in civic participation by self-reported health status
Surprisingly, claiming a long-term illness or disability did not impact an individual’s ability to participate. This is largely because of the broadness of the term “disability” – a person can be disabled in a way that limits their ability to vote, but many disabilities are easier to manage and would have no impact on someone’s ability to understand politics or volunteer. Receiving disability benefits, however, indicates that a person’s circumstance is difficult enough that it interferes with regular work and income.
The Understanding Society Survey has 41 different benefit classifications. Using their descriptions as illness or disability benefits, I looked into people who received at least one of the following benefits: severe disablement allowance, industrial industry disablement allowance, disability living allowance, war disablement pension, incapacity benefit, received working tax credit (including disabled person’s tax credit), and any other disability benefit or payment.
Scottish residents receiving some form of disability benefit were:
Receiving work or income benefits is another way of looking into the degree to which income inequality affects participation. I considered the following benefit classifications to be low income or unemployment benefits: income support, job seeker’s allowance, national insurance credit, housing benefit, rent rebate, universal credit.
Receiving work or income benefits affected participation more substantially than those receiving disability benefits (Table 1).
Table 1: Proportion of each population which participated in the following civic behaviours
| Voted in a recent election | Interested in politics | Volunteered in the past year | |
| Receiving unemployment or income benefits | 66% | 20% | 8% |
| Receiving illness or disability benefits | 72% | 26% | 10% |
| Total Scottish population | 80% | 32% | 17% |
Income inequality is also closely related to civic participation. By dividing household income into five quartiles of the population, we found that the highest-earning 20% of the Scottish population was significantly more likely to participate in civic behaviours (Figure 5). This is a clear example of participatory inequalities based on income.
Figure 5: Civic participation inequalities based on income quintile
Education also has a significant impact on all aspects of civic participation. Volunteering is the most notably impacted behaviour by education; only 4.4% of Scottish residents without educational qualifications reported volunteering in the past year, compared to over 27% of Scots with university degrees.
Table 2: Percentage of each population which participated in the following civic behaviours
| Voted in a recent election | Interested in politics | Volunteered in the past year | |
| No educational qualifications | 73.5% | 21.3% | 4.4% |
| Scottish average | 80% | 32% | 17% |
| Has a university degree | 87.6% | 38.4% | 27.1% |
Scotland suffers from unequal participation across a number of metrics, most notably education, income, health, and benefit receipt status. Poorer, less educated, and less healthy Scottish residents are less likely to have participated in voting and volunteering. The differences in participation are also larger within Scotland than any other constituent country in the United Kingdom.
Civic participation – whether by voting or by selecting causes to volunteer for – ultimately shapes political agendas. Values that are important to low-income, unqualified, or unhealthy members of society may be overlooked on a national scale due to disproportionately low levels of participation among these individuals.
The more equality in participation among all levels of society, the more that any particular group is able to better their circumstances.
In a report published yesterday, the committee sets out a suite of recommendations aimed at ensuring the NPF is a “much more explicit” part of policy making.
This begins, says the committee, with the Scottish Government making clear how it will use the NPF in setting national policy, and in collaborating with local government and wider Scottish society.
The report also says Scottish Government funding decisions need to be aligned with NPF outcomes, and that greater scrutiny and accountability is required.
Finance and Public Administration Committee Convener Kenneth Gibson said: “The NPF remains an important vision of the type of place Scotland should aspire to be, but there needs to be more sustained progress towards achieving that vision.
“While there is no single solution, of key importance is positioning the NPF as the start of a ‘golden thread’ from which all other frameworks, strategies and plans flow, through to delivery on the ground.
“We recommend that the government explicitly set out how its policies will contribute to the delivery of specific NPF outcomes, their intended impact on NPF outcomes, and approaches to monitoring and evaluation.
“Similarly, government funding decisions should also be aligned with National Outcomes. From the wide range of organisations we heard from the NPF is not currently seen to drive financial decisions, nor is it a mechanism by which organisations are held to account for spending effectively.”
The report also makes recommendations for strengthening and refocussing scrutiny – including by parliamentary committees – over how organisations have regard to the NPF.
A new report from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine finds that patients presenting with mental health problems are twice as likely to spend 12-hours or more in Emergency Departments than other patients.
National data show that nearly one in eight (12%) mental health patients presenting to an Emergency Department in crisis face a 12-hour stay from time of arrival, compared with nearly one in 16 (6%) of all attendances.
A recent SNAP survey of Emergency Departments found that more than one third of clinical leads reported patient stays of 72 hours or more in the last week, for patients with mental health needs.
‘Mental Health Emergency Care’ is the latest report in our series of explainers looking at the web of issues facing Emergency Departments. The report highlights that while patients with mental health presentations account for a very small proportion of Emergency Department attendances, they spend a disproportionate amount of time waiting for a mental health bed if they need admission.
Often, it is the patients who are most unwell and vulnerable that wait the longest. Those of greatest concern are patients waiting for a mental health bed, patients waiting for an assessment under the Mental Health Act, and Children and Young People presenting in crisis.
The prevalence and complexity of the mental health needs of children and young people increased during the pandemic, while capacity is struggling to meet surging demand.
Half of Emergency Departments in England reported waits of 12 to 24 hours for a child or young person to see a specialist mental health professional, despite the accepted standard for adults being a one hour wait to be seen.
If admission is needed, 46% of Emergency Departments reported that children and young people will wait more than 48 hours for a bed, with two respondents reporting a wait of five days in the Emergency Department.
The report looks in detail at factors contributing to these long waits, such as the reduction in mental health beds, inadequate numbers of children and adolescent mental health professionals, and poor organisation of professionals to assess patients under the Mental Health Act. It also examines the consequences for patients and departments and makes wide reaching recommendations.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The system is failing patients who present to Emergency Departments in mental health crisis.
“Those waiting the longest are children and young people, patients waiting for admission to a bed, and patients waiting for assessment under the Mental Health Act. It is unacceptable.
“We know long waits in a busy and crowded environment are harmful for any patient, but for these patients it can cause deep distress and upset and worsen their mental state. We must do more to ensure that these patients are seen, treated, and directed to the right care quicker.
“These patients presenting to Emergency Departments are extremely vulnerable, they are in crisis and seeking Emergency Care, yet are left waiting for hours and even days, before being treated and admitted.”
The explainer also shows that the UK has only 37 psychiatric beds per 100,000 population – far lower than the OECD average of 71 psychiatric beds per 100,000 population – and that since 1987, over 48,000 NHS mental health beds have been cut in England, with 5,000 mental health beds having been cut since 2011 alone.
Dr Henderson said: “Data show that bed occupancy at mental health trusts averaged nearly 90% between 2017-20, 5 percentage points higher than the recommended 85%. The NHS mental health bed numbers are clear; capacity does not meet demand.
“While the move towards a provision of community mental health care has been positive, the cuts to emergency mental health care beds have been devastating. Now, the most vulnerable and desperate patients are truly suffering.
“We urgently need to see an increase in mental health bed capacity, so we are able to admit these patients to a bed and provide the care they urgently need. We regularly hear heart-breaking stories of young people being admitted a long way from their home and family.
“We urge the new Prime Minister and new Health Secretary to prioritise Mental Health care provision in Emergency Departments, especially ahead of winter.
“We are failing these patients and they are suffering; our report and supporting survey show the extent of this crisis. We need urgent action now. To ensure we are able to quickly and effectively help vulnerable patients in crisis the government must increase mental health bed capacity in Trusts.
“Capacity for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is especially important, and CAMHs should be expanded to 24/7 so that children and young people can be assessed and triaged whenever they present at Emergency Departments, rather than face long waits for these services to open.”
An Edinburgh Napier University-led study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, into stakeholder experiences of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland (MHTS) has recommended several ways it could improve its processes and decision-making.
Addressing the influence of clinicians, encouraging participation of patients and offering more support for named persons are among the suggestions put forward in the report.
The MHTS was set up authorise and review compulsory psychiatric measures under the 2003 Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 and began operating in October 2005. The legislation is underpinned by human rights-based principles which govern the way that the MHTS makes its decisions about compulsory psychiatric care and treatment.
This study is the first of its kind since the Tribunal’s formation and heard from patients, their named persons, MHTS panel members, lawyers, independent advocates and health and social care professionals.
The timing of the study’s report means that its findings will be used to help inform the Scottish Mental Health Law Review, which is due to publish its recommendations on Scottish mental health, capacity and adult support and protection law this autumn.
Jill Stavert, Professor of Mental Health and Capacity Law at Edinburgh Napier University said: “Our study revealed several areas of agreement across all participant groups on how the Mental Health Tribunal operates and evidence of considerable caring goodwill on the part of the Tribunal and health and social care practitioners.
“However, there were certain areas where the experience and perceptions of patients and Tribunal panel members was not shared, particularly surrounding patient perceptions of their ability to participate during tribunal hearings.
“An important test whether human rights principles are effective is not only whether they are given effect by state authorities, such as tribunals, but also the extent to which they are felt to be given effect by rightsholders such as patients.”
Some of the report’s recommendations include, among others, addressing perceptions of the influence of clinicians and diversity issues, supporting patient participation, and supporting named persons more.
Professor Stavert continued: “Some of these, we consider, should be addressed by the Tribunal itself while others are for other bodies to take up.
“This is very important as human rights requirements increasingly require active respect for the rights of persons with psychosocial, cognitive and intellectual disabilities.”
A new report from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) details the breadth and depth of the cost of living crisis, with soaring energy bills driving “frightening” demand for advice around food insecurity.
The charity is publishing a quarterly cost of living analysis looking at advice demand. It found that in more than 1 in 10 utilities cases, the client also required advice around food insecurity such as a food bank referral.
Comparing the first quarter of this year to the previous financial year, the analysis also shows soaring views of online advice in energy areas such as:
At the same time, online page views relating to cost of living issues has increased massively, with “Get help with bills” increasing 122%. The page “Struggling with living costs” has seen a 67% increase, meanwhile views of “Food banks and other crisis help” is up 33%.
Across the CAB network itself, last year 26% of all utilities advice related to cost of living or income crisis measures. In the first quarter of this year that had grown to 35%.
Last year 36% of finance and charitable support advice was food bank referrals or shopping vouchers. In quarter one of this year this had grown to 45%.
The report also analyses demand across demographics, and finds that council rented tenants and those out of work, or unable to work, are seeking advice related to the cost of living at higher levels than other groups.
The charity is warning that this increased demand is before the impact of a “toxic cocktail” this winter of the energy price cap going up, higher inflation, and increased interest rates.
Citizens Advice Scotland Chief Executive Derek Mitchell said: “The Citizens Advice network gives a wraparound service when people come to us for advice because people have complex problems and need help with multiple issues. Our data tracks the patterns and connections between the advice we are giving out and the problems society faces. What we are seeing is frankly frightening.
“More than one in every ten people seeking help with an energy issue also requires help with food insecurity. Let’s be absolutely clear what that means – some people face the prospect of freezing or starving this winter.
“This crisis is affecting everyone, but some people are especially at risk – our data shows higher demand for advice from council tenants, those out of work and those unable to work. That to me suggests broad support alone will not be enough – there needs to be targeted help for the vulnerable.
“We are seeing these issues before a toxic cocktail this winter of soaring energy bills, growing inflation and higher interest rates. People are hanging on by their finger tips and it’s the summer – how are they expected to cope when the temperature drops and bills rise?
“CABs are here for people during this crisis. We helped 171,000 people last year and a further 2.5 million checked our online advice. We are for everyone regardless of background or circumstance and it’s so important people understand we are here for them with free, confidential and impartial advice. We don’t judge, we just help.
“That help though, needs to be back up by policymakers delivering the kind or urgent and significant policy interventions to help people. Make no mistake, this is a challenge on a scale of the 2008 financial crisis or the 2020 pandemic, and will require solutions to match that.”
Today, the Foreign Affairs Committee publishes the Government’s response to the Committee’s report “Missing in action: UK leadership and the withdrawal from Afghanistan”.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) states that “there are fundamental lessons to learn” from the withdrawal, and that it is “determined to raise standards” in preparing for and responding to future crises.
In its report, published in May, the Committee criticised “evasive, and often deliberately misleading” answers from the FCDO, and stated it had “lost confidence in the Permanent Under-Secretary, who should consider his position”. The FCDO responds that “at no stage have Ministers or officials sought to mislead the Committee deliberately” and reiterates its “sincere apologies” for “inadvertently providing misleading evidence”.
In response to the Committee’s criticism of the “Special Cases” evacuation scheme, for Afghans who supported the UK effort without being directly employed by the UK Government, the FCDO concedes that the scheme had “many shortcomings”, was “poorly communicated”, and that prioritisation of cases was “far from perfect”.
The response states that there were “staffing gaps in some teams for some periods” during the evacuation, and that “the impact of the crisis on staff welfare was significant”.
The Committee criticised the department’s approach to two whistleblowers who gave evidence to the inquiry, and called for the FCDO to review its processes for officials to register concerns.
The FCDO states that it has “recently reviewed its whistleblowing policy against industry best practice”, and that the department “would not penalise, any member of staff for raising concerns in line with the procedures and with the law”.
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat MP, said: “The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, and our failure to manage the consequences, leaves a black mark on Britain’s record. This is a tragedy, first and foremost, for the Afghan people, who are now suffering through a humanitarian crisis and the return of a brutal and oppressive regime.
“After two decades of direct involvement, the UK has a duty people of Afghanistan. I am pleased to see that the Foreign Office agrees with so many of the Committee’s recommendations on the need to engage with, not isolate, Afghanistan. Disengaging will only punish ordinary Afghans, who have suffered enough.
“It is clear that leadership within the Foreign Office fell desperately short before, during and after the UK’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. The UK’s allies in the country were left with false hope of rescue, while junior Foreign Office staff members were forced to make life and death decisions without proper support. They should never have been put in this position.
“I would like to thank again the brave whistleblowers who came forward for their contribution to exposing these facts.
“I am pleased that the Foreign Office has acknowledged and accepted many of the criticisms put forward in the Foreign Affairs Committee’s report. This disaster has exposed serious failings in the department and I hope that this response signals the start of a sincere attempt to remedy these failures.”
Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Chris Bryant MP, said: “The UK’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was one of the biggest reversals of a British foreign police in decades and the Foreign Office’s handling of it was chaotic, fatally undermining the public’s trust in the Government’s ability to execute foreign policy – or to give an honest account to Parliament.
“The information we received from the Foreign Office on the Nowzad case in the course of the inquiry varied between intentionally evasive and deliberately misleading. This response fails again to clarify or explain the inconsistencies in their statements to the Committee.
“Our report called on the political and diplomatic leadership of the Foreign Office to make a fresh start and re-commit to transparency and positive engagement with Parliament after this experience. Judging by the continuing evasions in this response, they are not listening.
“So far we have had few signs that the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office are able to learn valuable lessons from this experience. If this continues, we risk another catastrophe further undermining our standing on the world stage.”
Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s latest report Going Without: deepening poverty in the UK makes grim reading …
The Government should immediately update its package of support to help households with soaring energy bills before the cost-of-living crisis grips even harder following October’s energy price cap increase, according to a new report by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.
It comes as people are feeling the squeeze of 40-year high inflation of 9.4% – to which the cost of energy is a big contributor – as wage increases struggle to keep up.
Support package out of date
The Government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme provides a £400 discount on energy bills in October for every household, a £650 means-tested one-off payment to eight million low-income households, £150 for those on disability benefits and £300 for pensioners. This was designed when the forecast for the October price cap was £2,800.
With wholesale energy prices continuing to rise industry experts now estimate that the price cap could increase to £3,244 in October, when the NEA forecast one in three (8.2 million) households face fuel poverty. A further rise is expected in January and MPs on the Committee warn that the size of the package has been ‘eclipsed by the scale of the crisis’.
Social tariff and support for vulnerable people
They also raise concerns that the current scheme does not sufficiently target low-income households and those in vulnerable circumstances, with the £400 discount going to some bill payers who don’t need it and repeatedly to people who own multiple homes. The Committee urges the Government to ensure that any update to its support scheme is better targeted at customers who need it the most.
As low-income households struggle to pay their energy bills and get deeper into debt, MPs call on the Government to work with energy suppliers to develop a scheme to help households pay off debts over a longer period.
In the longer-term, the report calls out the injustice of vulnerable people, who are unable to pay their energy bills, being moved on to more expensive prepayment meters.
The report labels this as “unacceptable” and urges the Government to consider replacing the market-wide price cap with a discounted social tariff for vulnerable customers, and a relative tariff for the rest of the market – that caps the difference between the cheapest and most expensive tariffs a supplier offers.
Committee Chair Darren Jones said, “Once again, the energy crisis is racing ahead of the Government. To prevent millions from dropping into unmanageable debt it’s imperative that the support package is updated and implemented before October, when the squeeze will become a full-on throttling of household finances and further tip the economy towards recession.
“We were told by a number of witnesses, ‘if you think things are bad now, you’ve not seen anything yet’. This Winter is going to be extremely difficult for family finances and it’s therefore critical that public funds are better targeted to those who need it the most.
“It’s an injustice that the poorest households continue to pay higher energy costs because they’re on prepayment meters. This must end and a social tariff should be brought forward.
“Ultimately, Ministers know that the long-term solution is to reduce our need for energy through insulation works that keep our homes warm in winter and cool in summer. If the Government is really taking this energy crisis and the country’s net zero targets seriously it will come forward with a bold, fully funded, national home insulation program before the end of the year.”
Ofgem and market regulation
Billpayers have been left to pick up the tab for supplier failures, while recent reports show bosses of at least defunct suppliers could be in line for windfalls of tens of millions. The collapse of 30 suppliers since April 2021 (29 at time of writing the report) is expected to add £94 onto energy bills.
This could increase if the Government is unable to recover the cost of running the special administration of Bulb through its sale and decides that billpayers must pick up the costs, something the report says should be paid for through general taxation.
Ofgem’s incompetence over many years enabled inadequately resourced and inexperienced founders to start energy companies. It failed to supervise regulated companies, which in turn took high risk decisions including not hedging properly and using customers money to offer unsustainable prices that undercut well run energy companies. Ofgem failed to use its existing powers and didn’t bring action against energy suppliers even when it was clear that they should have done.
Ministers and regulators believed deregulation would drive competition, but it instead left an over- exposed and unregulated market which ultimately crashed, costing taxpayers billions of pounds. This market failure is only comparable to the banking crisis of 2008, according to MPs.
Ofgem is pressing ahead with a major package of regulatory reform to reverse its previous shortcomings and shore up the financial resilience of the market, but the Committee remains sceptical of Ofgem’s ability to undertake this task. If measures are poorly designed and executed, they risk further destabilising the market and distorting competition.
Insulating homes to permanently reduce demand
Helping customers pay their energy bills is not a sustainable position for Government and volatile gas prices are expected to be a longer-term concern for the country. It is therefore urgent and essential that Ministers bring forward a fully funded, national campaign to insulate people’s homes – street by street, community by community – in order to reduce the country’s demand for energy.
This report urges the Government to stop announcing short-term policies and moving existing budgets around and instead fully fund a national retrofit programme that businesses, homeowners, and tenants can invest and take part in.
Such a programme is required not just to reduce the cost of energy in winter but to also keep homes cool in extreme heat, reduce the cost of cooling as well as heating, and help the country hit its net zero targets as set out in the Committees previous report on Decarbonising heating in homes
Environmental campaigners say bold action to limit polluting traffic is needed as a new report showing the links between air pollution and dementia is released.
The report, published yesterday (25 July 2022) by COMEAP, the UK Government’s Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, suggests the most likely way that pollution impacts cognitive impairment is through circulation. Air pollutants, particularly small particles, can affect the heart and blood vessels, including the brain.
Environmental campaigners say that the Scottish Government and local councils are not taking enough action to reduce pollution from transport and other sources. Earlier this year, research by Friends of the Earth Scotland showed that Scotland breached air quality limits in 2021 after a historic low in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Friends of the Earth Scotland’s transport campaigner Gavin Thomson said: “Today’s report from the UK Government is further evidence that air pollution is devastating for human health, and it’s really worrying to see the links with dementia being strengthened.
“We have known for a long time that traffic fumes cause asthma and heart conditions, and evidence has been growing about the risk that tiny particles – from exhaust fumes, tyres and brakes – pose to our cognitive health. It is particularly dangerous for young children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing health conditions.
“Four cities in Scotland will soon have small clean air zones limiting polluting vehicles from the city centre. This is the first action we’ve seen to tackle air pollution but it’s nowhere near enough. To improve air quality in our communities and neighbourhoods, we need significant investment in public transport so that everyone can access it, while providing more space for walking, wheeling and cycling.”
