EVEN if sunscreen-makers do grudgingly respond to Nigel Griffiths's plea to cut prices, thousands of young Scots will remain exposed to harmful UV rays this summer - because their parents simply can't afford protection money.

For the very poor, the solution lies not with the manufacturers but with the consumer affairs minister's buddy, Gordon Brown - who could free up voucher money for those on income support or family credit. The idea is inspired by Maggie Berrill who, as a Berwickshire children's officer, has worked with single-parent families. Protection for them, as they juggle a meagre budget, means keeping children indoors.

Mrs Berrill felt so strongly on the issue she wrote to then Health Minister Virginia Bottomley (as CheckOut reported at the time, she got no reply). Three years on a more compassionate response might be forthcoming via Mr Griffiths. We are asking him what he intends to do.

Meantime, as holidays loom, even reasonably well-off families could find the cost of sun protection daunting. In Boots yesterday a 200ml bottle of ''Swiss-made'' Factor 35 suncare cream was selling at #10.75. Next door, at Poundstretcher, their equivalent Cabana product is #1.79 for the same size. Supplied by Linco Impex, it likewise protects children against UVA and UVB.

According to Dr Masoud Hesabi, a chemist who doubles as public relations spokesman for the Manchester firm, the low price is achieved by dispensing with costly PR, fancy packaging, and expensive advertising.

''We have to submit our products to the same stringent Government tests as everyone else, often at #4000 a time, and I confidently challenge other sunscreen makers to say their product is any better than ours,'' he says. CheckOut has one-dozen gift packs of Cabana Factor 35 for kids - each enough to last for weeks - for the first six readers drawn from the sun hat. Postcards, marked ''Sun,'' to

Herald Features, 195 Albion Street, Glasgow G1 1QP, by May 23.

The boffins have had their say - now for the definitive answer on whether the bagless Dyson really does take Miele to the cleaners, as the makers of the revolutionary British vacuum claim. As Which? was handing down its verdict last week - awarding Miele a best buy, but not the Dyson pull-along - both machines were at the cutting edge at a top Edinburgh nursery that prides itself on a clean environment.

As well as the daily diet of crisps, crumbs, biscuits, and playdough, confetti was thrown in as well to make the task all the tougher. While the Miele impressed staff at the Birrell Collection, Walker Street, with its powerful suction, they unanimously voted Dyson the star performer.

''We reckon it lifted deep down dirt far better than the Miele and it is much easier to manoeuvre,'' says Annie Covey, who supervised the 10-day trial for CheckOut. Money saved on bags was rated another major plus.

One advantage Mr Dyson appears to have overlooked: the whirling dust in the see-through canister so intrigues kids it might encourage them to do the housework!