Hansard

I will come to that later in my speech, so I will deal with the matter then, if that is in order.

The programme for government last week underlined our on-going commitment to the future of the food and drink sector. We announced a range of actions including that we will, by March 2019, publish a new food and drink five-year export plan and bring forward new measures to promote and market our produce overseas. We will expand the number of sectors that are covered by food and drink sectoral plans to include beef, sheep, dairy, poultry and craft beer. We will take action to streamline and simplify our support for food and drink businesses in order to ensure that they can access the right support quickly and effectively.

The programme also highlighted our future plans for a policy area that I know is of particular interest to many members: the good food nation. Our vision is for Scotland to be a good food nation by 2025—a place where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food that they produce, buy, cook, serve and eat. Our exciting new agenda for establishing us as a good food nation sets a real ambition for improving not just the health and wellbeing of all the people of Scotland, but its economy and environment. In February 2015, we established the Scottish food commission to support the work on the good food nation policy. I attended the commission’s final meeting in June and thanked the commissioners for their important work to develop proposals for taking forward the good food nation agenda.

Recommendations that have been submitted by the commission have provided me and my colleagues with valuable options for the direction of travel on this important policy. In considering options for the future, it has become clear that legislation is not the only answer. So much excellent work is already being done across the Government and local government and across Scotland to contribute to the good food nation agenda.

This week, I published our “Good Food Nation Programme of Measures” progress report, which sets out the full range of work that is under way. It is a fantastic record of the commitment that we have to the food and drink industry, to the education and health of our people, to the sustainability of the environment and to the vibrancy of the sector’s contribution to our economy. I am proud to have published a document that provides such overwhelming evidence of the wide-ranging work that is going on across the Government to deliver on the good food nation ambition.

We are not complacent—we want to do more. The programme therefore highlights a number of specific new policies that we are planning to help us to meet our good food nation ambition. For example, we have consulted on the recommendations of the review of school food and drink regulations, which aim to bring the regulations into closer alignment with the Scottish dietary goals. Included are proposals to reduce sugar further and to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables.

We will increase the fair food fund budget from £1.5 million to £3.5 million in 2019-20, which will enable us to continue our work to promote food-delivery models that embrace the principles of dignified food. We plan to create more opportunities for more primary school children to have the chance to visit a farm in order to raise their awareness of where their food comes from, and of the role that farmers play as food producers and custodians of the countryside. We continue to work towards our target of reducing all food waste in Scotland by 33 per cent by 2025, against a 2013 baseline. Suggested measures to achieve the target will be published in our food-waste action plan later this year.

Those are all great examples of policies that contribute to the good food nation agenda, and I confirm that we are committed to consulting on the detail in the autumn. I welcome the contribution of Parliament, individual parties and, of course, the Scottish food commission, which has provided a solid basis of recommendations, which will be explored further in the consultation.

I have had the opportunity to visit many food and drink businesses, which is a great pleasure. Just this morning, I visited Glasgow-based Lomond Fine Foods Ltd, which was set up 21 years ago by Sam and Barbara Henderson and is now thriving with great growth and success. The company supplies many of Scotland’s excellent convenience stores, including with food to go, on which it is a leading supplier, and is taking effective action to reduce its carbon footprint. That company and many other businesses are a true credit to Scotland and offer great opportunities for the future.

The evidence is there for all to see that the food and drink industry in Scotland is a real success story and is worthy of celebration. So much is being achieved in terms of supporting and growing the industry, and it is in a good place. The industry makes an excellent contribution to our work towards becoming a good food nation—work that is supported right across the Government. Our good food nation progress report is an excellent summary of the work that is being done and is planned to ensure that we continue to deliver on our vision.

I commend the motion in my name and hope that members can support it.

I move,

That the Parliament welcomes Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight and its campaign this year to encourage more people to buy, eat and promote Scottish food and drink and to champion the role that young people play in the sector’s success; notes that these aims are reflected in the vision of Scotland as a Good Food Nation; notes that legislation underpinning the Good Food Nation vision and ambition will be introduced in the current parliamentary session; acknowledges the importance and value of the Scottish food and drink sector to the Scottish economy and the people of Scotland, particularly through the growth in sales within the UK and overseas since 2007; notes that, in 2017, food and drink exports to the EU were worth £2.5 billion; is concerned that the prospect of a hard or no-deal Brexit increasingly puts this success at risk, not least because of the threat to the geographical indication status, which provides economic benefit to many important Scottish products, and urges the UK Government to ensure that Scottish produce can continue to benefit from geographical indication status in the UK, Europe and internationally.