Providing evidence to the Scottish Parliament

Professor David Bell has been active in sharing evidence on the economic impact of policy with policy actors. With this aim, he was elected Chair of the Scottish Government Regional Economic Policy Advisory Group, which aims to provide Ministers and officials with independent support for understanding and managing the impact of the UK Government’s Levelling Up Agenda across Scotland, as well as developing a review into regional economic policy in Scotland. Further to this, Professor Bell authored the Scottish Government regional economic policy review papers, examining why, and in which policy areas, economic development works well on a regional scale. His research was used in the Scottish Government ‘Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland: research report’. He has given evidence to the Scottish Finance and Public Administration Committee on Scottish Fiscal Framework: Independent report, gave evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee at the House of Commons on the Cost of living: Impact on rural communities in Scotland inquiry, and gave evidence on the sustainability of Scotland’s finances to the Scottish Parliament. He was also a speaker at the Migration Policy Scotland event ‘Migration and the Scottish Economy: Impacts and Options’, held at COSLA. Professor Bell and Professor Judith Phillips co-authored a report for HM Treasury and Scottish Government on funding for tax and welfare devolution, published in June 2022.

Connecting Generations members have also been sharing their health research with parliamentarians. Professor Bell presented evidence to the Scottish Government on ‘Trends in health inequalities in Scotland since devolution’ to inform the Scottish Government review of health inequalities in Scotland. Following on from this, he participated in a Holyrood Insight Conference on adult social care reform in Scotland. Dr Mary Abed Al Ahad shared her research on air pollution, health and mortality to MSP in the Scottish Parliament, and gave written evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on the Defra Recall: Environmental protection, published in April 2023. Additionally, she gave written evidence to the UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee on the health impacts of outdoor air pollution.

Further reading

Regional economic policy review papers 1-4 (Scottish Government)

Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland: research report (Scottish Government)

Fiscal Framework Review: Independent Report (Scottish Government)

First step to Fiscal Framework Review (Scottish Government)

Written evidence to Defra Recall: Environment protection (Mary Abed Al Ahad)

Written evidence to the UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee (Mary Abed Al Ahad)