Supporting Young People’s Health & Wellbeing

This document has been prepared for the Youth Health Improvement and Health Inequalities Strategic Leads Group. It sets out the key government policies that aim to support young people’s health and wellbeing. It is a broad overview and does not attempt to describe every policy or initiative that will have an impact on the health of young people in Scotland. An underlying theme is that much of the policy outlined here, either directly or indirectly, aims to narrow the gap between the health of the best-off and worst-off young people in Scottish society - that is, to reduce health inequalities.

The main focus of this paper is on youth health. However, for completeness the paper briefly sets out key policy in relation to pre-birth and the early years. No single Scottish Government Directorate is responsible for policy development relating to children and young people’s health and wellbeing. This paper aims to draw together the plethora of policy into a single document.