Income and economy: policy context

Government economic and social policy can play its part in improving not only the economy but also health. Over the last eight years the UK government have focussed on a variety of schemes aimed at providing employment and "lifting people out of poverty".  Prominent among these have been the Welfare to Work Initiatives (including the New Deal), which aim to get more people into sustainable employment, and the introduction of the minimum wage (in April 1999) and working families tax credit, which both aim to boost the income of the lowest paid. Additionally, the Government has a long-term goal of "halving and eradicating child poverty" and conducted a Child Poverty Review (2004), to examine the welfare reform and public services changes necessary to achieve this.  

In Scotland Towards A Healthier Scotland, the 1999 white paper on health, envisaged that action on life circumstances, including targeted additional resources spent on employment in tandem with new investment in housing, education, welfare benefits, childcare and community care, taken together would have clear health benefits. Improving Health in Scotland - the Challenge (2003) proposed a new framework for health improvement and a set of actions which aimed to improve health across Scotland but also to "improve the health of our most disadvantaged communities at a faster rate, thereby narrowing the health gap".

In terms of national economics, the argument that Scotland's health needs to improve as one of the prerequisites for a successful economy has been made by many in Scotland. The Scottish Executive is committed to developing the Scottish economy and has published numerous policy documents outlining how this will be achieved including the Partnership Agreement - A Partnership for a better Scotland (2003) and a Framework for Economic Development in Scotland (2004).