SCOTS appear to be ignoring messages aimed at improving their health, according to a new report which has found that obesity is on the rise and more teenagers are smoking and drinking.

This is despite spending on health improvement and public health in Scotland rising from £26 million a year in 1999 to £240 million now. The total NHS budget for Scotland is about £8 billion a year.

The report on health changes between 1998 and 2003, published yesterday by the Executive, found that smoking among girls aged 8 to 15 had doubled and the number of 15-year-old boys who drank at least once a week had risen from 9 per cent to 15 per cent.

The Executive said yesterday that efforts to change the lifestyle habits of Scots would not succeed overnight and had to be judged over a 10 to 20-year period. A spokeswoman pointed to some chinks of light in the gloom, with rates of physical activity increasing and fewer people eating chips or consuming fizzy drinks.

Andy Kerr, Scotland’s Health Minister, insisted that work was being done to tackle Scotland’s health problems and said that since 2004 ministers had driven forward changes aimed at shedding the country’s “sick man of Europe” tag. “We know that Scotland is facing major issues such as rising obesity levels and increased alcohol consumption, particularly among women. It is also disappointing that smoking and alcohol consumption among 15-year-olds is on the increase,” he said.

The report showed that while fewer older Scots were smoking, there had been an increase in young smokers. The ban on smoking in all public places in Scotland comes into force on March 26 and ministers hope this will be a major factor in reducing smoking among the young.

The number of female binge drinkers increased from 16 per cent to 19 per cent and the number exceeding weekly recommended limits went from 15 to 17 per cent. The survey also showed the number of girls aged eight to 15 who smoked doubled from 3 per cent to 6 per cent but fell slightly among boys in the same age group.

The survey showed that approximately one third of men and women in Scotland still smoke despite the barrage of bad publicity over the years.

While physical activity in people aged from 16 to 74 increased, the survey also showed that obesity among men and women increased from 19 per cent to 22 per cent and 21 per cent to 24 per cent respectively. Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to the increase in obesity levels, went up in men from 1 per cent to 2 per cent with a smaller rise among women. Obesity among boys aged from two to 15 went up from 14 per cent to 18 per cent but in girls dropped slightly.

Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that Scots could expect to die younger than people in the rest of Britain and Glaswegians died younger than people elsewhere in Scotland.

The lowest age for death for both men and women in 2002/04 was 69 in Glasgow and out of the ten local authorities in Britain with the lowest male life expectancy at birth, seven were in Scotland.

The SNP MSP Bruce Crawford called for a rethink on the extension of opening hours for pubs and clubs. “These hugely disappointing figures starkly underline the fact there is a drinking culture in Scotland which is only getting worse. Scotland is clearly not ready for up to 24-hour drinking,” he said.

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