Perhaps I can answer in part the question that you are asking. As an agency of the Scottish Government, our primary relationship is with it, and we work through it to try to influence the UK Government. We also work with our colleague national public health agency, Public Health England, which is constrained in the agenda that is set by its Government.
A number of years ago, I represented directors of public health as a professional group at the Work and Pensions Select Committee in London, and that is one route that can be used to influence and comment on Government policy. Moreover, sole among the UK health improvement agencies, we have done work on the potential impacts on health of welfare changes. That work has been much supported by the other agencies, which do not feel in a position to do it, partly because of challenges in having a relationship with a Government that is set in a particular direction. We have distance, which brings limited freedoms that we are trying to exploit.
As I said, we have done work on potential effects of welfare changes. Those effects are becoming evident, but the reports that we have produced so far have not been definitive, although we are concerned about the trends in mental health. We are trying to get our message across; for example, we have produced work on taxation and the relative effects of council tax rises or income tax changes.
We feel that we can present such evidence, but we cannot necessarily say, “Do this” or “Do that”; it is for parliamentarians and politicians—and the public and commentators—to make judgments on what we say, the authority with which we say it and the quality of the evidence behind that. We are there to influence what people do, what they think and how they act.