Rural Affairs and Islands Committee 03 September 2025
I will pick up on a few things. I echo some of the points that have been made, particularly by David Thomson, about the good food nation plan being the umbrella that has brought food to the fore across ministerial portfolios. That has never been done before, and that is a big strength of it.
Having policy coherence that brings existing policy together and ensures that synergies are sought is what we hope for, and that is what the good food nation plan can bring. All those things are welcome, but I am concerned about the long-term vision of the population health framework, which is another 10-year vision. We need the budget to support long-term visions such as those.
There has been a lot of discussion about outcomes. I do not think that there are any gaping holes, but it is important that there are some underpinning indicators that run through multiple outcomes. To pick up on David Thomson’s point, we need to ensure that synergies run through the policies. The Scottish dietary goals are the vision that we want to get to. They describe how the population would reduce diet-related disease, and they contribute to multiple outcomes. That is what we would like to see. If we can all work towards that, and if that is part of the indicators, that should ultimately improve health and the outcomes for Scotland.
A systemic approach that looks at the food environment is important. There is a lot of potential in the plan, but we need to ensure that the connections are made, that the policy coherence is there and that the funding and resources are sufficient.