Health, Social Care and Sport Committee 10 June 2025
Thank you, that is a good question. In relation to the work that the board has looked at, there is little impact we could have internally within FSS, as we are a very small organisation and we have a proportionately small carbon footprint. However, we can influence—rather than direct—the whole environment of food production and the food environment. Our role is to advise Scottish ministers on policies to improve diet and health. Although our competence lies within Scotland, we also take that advice beyond Scotland, to the UK Government, to make sure that our interests are represented UK wide.
Gillian can comment on some of the work that we have looked at, in terms of the advice that we have given to the Climate Change Committee and the research that we have done, which looks into some of the recommendations and the impact that they might have on population health. There is a direct correlation between some of the recommendations and the state of our nation’s health, and one of our priorities is to protect public health.
Evidence has shown that reliance on voluntary approaches is insufficient to address the scale of the challenge. More debate on appropriate mandatory actions is necessary, and we will continue to call for that. We have recommended that the UK Government prioritise several actions within its reserved competence, which might help us with further fiscal measures.
We know that following the “Eatwell Guide” would significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with diet and health in this country. To achieve that, we need support from the UK Government on things such as advertising and market restrictions on a high-fat, high-salt and high-sugar diet, mandatory reporting on food and drink sales data so that we know what areas need to improve—if we know what is being sold, we can influence it—and further fiscal measures such as the sugar tax, but going into other areas where we want to see improvement in terms of achieving what is in the “Eatwell Guide”. Given that we know that following the “Eatwell Guide” would contribute to a significant reduction in the emissions that are associated with what we eat in this country, it would be a good place to start, rather than looking to change the dietary advice, which might then affect the health of the population.