Hansard

In this day and age, when so many of us rely increasingly on processed food and ready-prepared meals, it is crucial that we can trust the safety and nutrition value of the food that we eat. The Food Standards Agency has served us well in this regard until now but, given the changing remit of the FSA south of the border, the need to tackle the serious problems of obesity that are caused by an inappropriate dietary lifestyle in Scotland, and in the wake of the horsemeat fraud, the Scottish Government proposes to set up food standards Scotland as a new stand-alone body as a replacement for the FSA that will have wider powers than that body has.

Although not all consultees were in favour of the proposal, the majority of people who responded to the call for evidence agreed that it is the way forward. Scottish Conservatives, too, are supportive of the general principles of the bill.

With its three key objectives—

“to protect the public from risks to health which may arise in connection with the consumption of food; ... to improve the extent to which consumers have diets conducive to good health; and ... to protect the other interests of consumers in relation to food”—

the new FSS will have a broader remit than the existing FSA in Scotland, and it will also have powers in relation to wrongly labelled food and non-compliance with food law.

The policy memorandum states that the new body will bring the FSA’s existing public health protection role together with a new objective on diet and nutrition. The minister said, in oral evidence, that the legislation will allow food standards Scotland

“to work in a co-ordinated way with the NHS and other organisations with a role to play in the obesity and dietary challenges that we face in Scotland.”—[Official Report, Health and Sport Committee, 24 June 2014; c 5756.]

The proposed powers for the new agency in respect of diet and nutrition were generally welcomed by witnesses, but given that a number of other existing bodies also have a role in this area, they stressed the need for FSS to have a strong co-ordination and leadership role. How that will be achieved will depend largely on negotiations after the new body is in place, and there are concerns that the work of FSS and the relevant NHS bodies must be appropriately co-ordinated in order best to tackle the complexities of diet and nutrition in Scotland.

The Scottish Government sees this as an opportunity to clear up confusion over the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, and to base advice to the public on sound scientific evidence. However, there is clearly a great deal of work to be done after the legislation is in place, and ministers should heed the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s caveat that in order to achieve its dietary and nutrition goals FSS must be adequately resourced and well connected to the Scottish Government’s scientific advisers.

There are concerns about the financing of FSS, whose extra powers beyond those of the existing FSA are likely to cost an extra £5 million or so in the first year. It is intended that the increased running costs will be offset through a financial transfer to the Scottish Government from the FSA’s UK-wide budget, but the exact value of that is still under negotiation and, although the minister assured me at committee that negotiations have been straightforward and that he is confident of a satisfactory outcome, they will not actually be complete until after the incoming FSS board is in place, which is predicted to be early next year. Of course, any future extension of the remit of FSS could have financial implications for the body itself and even for local authorities. Therefore, to my mind, there are still significant uncertainties about the funding of the new body, which will be crucial to its success.

A clear theme that emerged from evidence to the committee was the need for FSS to have access to the best science to underpin policy. There is extensive diet and nutrition expertise within the food industry, academia and national bodies such as NHS Health Scotland, which should be accessible to the body, and also within expert committees like the Scottish Food Enforcement Liaison Committee, and there is also food-related research from UK Government sources. Professor Peter Morgan of the Rowett research institute, and Professor Hugh Pennington, on behalf of the RSE, highlighted the need to maintain existing links to the advisory committees to the UK food agency. Professor Morgan noted that

“a lot of work is going on in the UK and across Europe, and the advisory committees can pull it together and give advice through food standards Scotland as an independent body.”—[Official Report, Health and Sport Committee, 3 June 2014; c 5569.]

The great opportunities for Scotland through Horizon 2020 funding were also stressed by Professor Morgan.

The memorandum of understanding between the FSA and FSS that is currently being drafted, with its protocols on science and research setting out the arrangements for the bodies to work together where appropriate, and to exchange data and research findings in all areas of mutual interest, will be crucial to the success of the new body, so I look forward to the promised publication of the agreed document at the earliest opportunity.

Other issues that were raised with the committee include the governance of FSS, in particular the size of the board that will be in charge of its work; proposed sanctions for food law offences; the possibility of setting up an appeals process against fixed-penalty notices, to which the minister referred; measures to tackle food fraud; and a possible negative impact on Scottish food businesses should we develop a different labelling regime from the rest of the UK. Time is too short to deal with those issues in detail, but any unanswered concerns will, no doubt, be raised as the bill proceeds through Parliament.

There was general support for a mandatory food hygiene information scheme to be set up in the future, and an acceptance that the Government should monitor the schemes in Northern Ireland and Wales before finally committing to such a scheme for Scotland.

There are significant issues still to be resolved in the complex area of food, nutrition and diet, but I am satisfied, as are my fellow committee members, that setting up food standards Scotland is the right way forward. The detail of the legislation will be examined further at stages 2 and 3, but I am happy to accept the general principles of the Food (Scotland) Bill.