Westminster Scottish Affairs Committee to hold session in Edinburgh as it begins enquiry into Scotland’s demographics

The UK parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee will hold a session in Edinburgh as it begins an enquiry into the demographics of Scotland and their implications for devolution.

The first session will examine current population trends and the impact of UK government policy in Scotland.

This will be followed by a roundtable discussion focusing on issues affecting older people, in particular pensions and health.

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Professor David Bell of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Andrew MacNaughton of Population Matters Scotland will give evidence at the session on demography, while representatives of the Scottish Pensioners Forum, Citizens Advice Scotland, Age Scotland and Alzheimer’s Scotland will be involved in the roundable.

Members of the public are invited to attend the roundtable to tell the committee about the issues affecting them.

Committee chair Pete Wishart commented: “This inquiry will examine the demographic challenges that lie ahead and indicate which policy areas will be most affected.

“In particular, we will ask if policies created in Westminster for the United Kingdom are adequate to meet the specific challenges that we face in Scotland.

“This is a wide-ranging topic and, while in this session we focus on how we support older people, we will be looking at areas such as business, industry and finance in the coming weeks.

“I am particularly excited to be hosting a ‘round-table’ event to discuss the realities of what life is like after you reach 65.

“We want to hear about your experiences of keeping healthy and how you feel about your role in society. This is open to everyone so please come along and speak to us, details are below.

“It is important that, as we study the statistics and theory of population trends, we also learn about what life is really like for people in Scotland.”

The Scottish Affairs Committee session will take place on Monday 18 April at Dynamic Earth.

The event is free to attend and free tickets can be booked through Eventbrite.