Price Controls on Essential Food Items: Consultation Paper

Ministerial Foreword

People across Scotland are struggling with the persistently high and rising cost of living. The price of energy is going up. It is becoming more expensive to heat our homes. Fuel costs more at petrol stations and some people are struggling to put food on the table. Where possible, the Scottish Government must act to address these pressures.

This consultation delivers on our commitment to explore further action to improve food affordability. I am seeking your views on a cap on the price of essential food items such as bread, milk and eggs with the aim of improving the affordability of food for households facing cost of living pressures, particularly those on lower incomes. In designing any intervention, we will also consider impacts on nutrition and health.

This action will complement the other steps that we are taking to address cost of living pressures, including support for affordable childcare, the provision of free school meals, and the removal of peak rail fares. No one measure will of itself resolve household financial challenges or solve the cost-of-living crisis, but each action will contribute to reducing pressures.

When addressing affordability, consideration must also be given to nutrition and health, impacts on our food industry and food security, implications for regulators, potential indirect impacts on the environment and climate, and how interventions might affect existing societal inequalities.

The people who grow, produce, store, process, transport, sell and cook food are critical to our food industry and to our society - getting food from farm to fork. The farmers that work the land and our fishing communities are central to our way of life, contribute to our food security and are a core part of Scotland’s economy. Therefore, I am committed to taking action to address food affordability in a way that protects them, and I intend to work directly with them to understand how best to do this.

I also recognise the importance of the competitive retail sector in Scotland, both in the provision of food and as a significant employer. Retailers in Scotland face challenges in the form of increased energy costs and other pressures, while working to ensure that a range of produce is readily available. I value the work that many responsible retailers already undertake to maintain low prices. Addressing the cost of-living pressures faced by so many means that we must work together and go further to support consumers.

This consultation seeks your views on the proposal of price caps on essential food items as a means to addressing the challenge of food affordability, particularly for those on lower incomes. It also seeks input on different choices for how a price cap could be designed in future. I recognise the complexity of the challenge, and I invite contributions to inform an approach that can deliver balanced outcomes.

We need your help to make those balanced judgements, so that we arrive at the best possible solution, informed by your experience. Whether you are involved in the food, retail or hospitality industries, work on a farm or fish in our seas, if you procure, store, transport, package, prepare or serve food, campaign to improve our food system, or are simply looking to put food on the table for you and your family, I want to receive your views and input on this important work.

Tom Arthur MSP

Minister for Business and Fair Work