A group set up to try to reduce the health gap between rich and poor Scots meets for the first time today.

The new Ministerial Taskforce of Health Inequalities was created to suggest new ways to tackle the problem.

Public health minister Michael Matheson, who will chair the group, said the health gap between the rich and poor was one of the greatest challenges in Scotland.

It comes after a report last year showed life expectancy was higher where deprivation is lower.

Men in the wealthiest areas can live for 81.4 years, 13.2 years more than those in the most deprived areas. Women in the most affluent areas can expect to live to the age of 84.6, nearly nine years longer than those in poorer areas.