The government has made several attempts to tackle inequalities, however the

effectiveness of each attempt is questionable.

The Scottish government has made attempts to reduce health inequalities, The
Scottish government are aware of the major inequalities that are tied with
excessive alcohol consumption, therefore, they have introduced two policies to try
and tackle this, the first policy is “The Alcohol Scotland Act (2010) changed how
alcohol is bought or sold in Scotland, this policy means that alcohol must remain
the same price for 72 hours to discourage addicts from taking excessive amounts
in small periods of time. The second policy, The Minimum Unit Pricing (2012) Act
went further and set a price of 50 pence per unit. In 2021, it was found that
alcohol sales had dropped by almost 8% since the introduction in 208. However,
Alcohol Focus Scotland have said that the current price is too low and should be
increased to 65p. From these statistics we can see that although there have been
improvements and efforts from the Government, and a decrease of 8% is
noticeable, further efforts such as increasing the unit prices to 65% will result in a
greater drop in alcohol consumption and therefore ultimately lower inequalities
especially ones to do with health. Overall, improvements have been made
however alcohol is still a major cause of inequality in Scotland which shows that
more work needs to be done in order to fully tackle the inequality.
Other attempts to tackle inequalities comes from the Scottish government, by
introducing the Baby Box, 90% of parents who received one said it was working
well and it helped them spend the money saved from the baby box to fund other
necessities such as healthy food for the baby, the Baby Box means that every child
born in Scotland is entitled to a baby box which is full of essentials. The box also
become a safe sleep space for babies. The box includes items such as: clothes,
thermometer for the baby and the bath, books, and a comforter. The other
attempt to tackle inequality comes from the Free School Meals. In Scotland, all
children up to primary four are entitled to a free lunch. Older children and young
people are also entitled to free school meals if their parents are entitled to certain
benefits including Universal Credit or Income Support. The Child Poverty Action
Group (CPAG) said that ‘this has the simple benefit of increasing disposable
income and is particularly evident amongst parents with more than one child’.
School lunches for two children would spend £685 on lunches per year without
this. These two attempts have had a very successful response from struggling
parents especially on single mothers who would otherwise struggle to purchase
the items in the baby box or would struggle to pay for their child(s) lunch daily.
Overall, these two attempts have had a successful result as they aim to improve
struggling parents.

Another attempt made by the Scottish government is introducing free bus travel
to anyone under the age of 21, If you live in Scotland and are 5-21 years old you
are eligible for a card giving you free bus travel, according to the Scottish
Government “The free bus travel scheme for under 22s has created a wealth of
new opportunities for young people to access education, work, training and
leisure activities, with more young people using bus services as a result. With over
50 million journeys done by under 21’s it is evident that this was particularly
useful in lowering costs especially for those who live far from their place of work,
school etc., not only this but evidence from the Child Poverty Action Group has
shown that free bus travel can save a total of £3,000 in the lifetime cost of a child
in Scotland. This along with the Leisure and Culture’s free summer fitness pass
made the ultimate bundle for those struggling to pay for things such as gym,
swimming etc., From 30 June until 15 August, teens will have access to free gym
sessions, swimming, and a range of other activities. this has not only helped with
those struggling financially but it has also helped reduce health inequalities by
encouraging teenagers to get more active during the summer, and the free bus
pass helped navigate the teenagers to these centers, although these things have
been outstanding and successful, they are both aimed at teenagers and do not
include other age groups. Overall, these policies can be considered for the most
part effective in tackling inequalities, however, the government should also try
implementing other policies for other age groups rather than just focusing on one.