DURING Thursday’s General Questions at Holyrood, I highlighted the impact that single-use vapes are having on both the environment and people’s health.

Since visiting a local e-cigarette shop last year with Cllr Pam Armstrong, I appreciate that single-use vapes can be a useful smoking cessation tool for people with limited dexterity, as they may find it too difficult to operate refillable vapes.

As we try to move towards a smoke-free Scotland, I believe that all smoking cessation tools should be available to those who need them, but I do agree with a ban on the public sale of single-use vapes.

Almost everywhere you go now you’ll see vapes that have been littered. There are various metals and compounds inside that can then leak into the environment, harming the planet and animals.

We’re also seeing increasing reports of children as young as primary school age vaping. Banning the public sale of single-use vapes would also better protect children and young people from the peer pressure of trying these products by making them less accessible.

During Dementia Awareness Week last week, the Scottish Government launched their new dementia strategy, Everyone’s Story, which outlines a policy vision for over the next decade and identifies numerous priorities to improve the lives of people living with dementia, their families and carers.

These include support pre and post diagnosis, actions to enable more people to live well in their communities, involving those affected in the design and delivery of their own support and access to care from a skilled and trauma-informed workforce when appropriate.

I welcome this strategy as it rightly challenges us to do more and go even further, continually improving the care and support for people living with dementia and their care partners.