Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025: equality impact assessment

The Scope of the EQIA

The potential impact of the policy on protected groups has been considered throughout the policy development process. This Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) has been undertaken as part of the development of a suite of impact assessments that set out impacts considered as part of arriving at the final policy decision.

The Scottish Government (SG) Promotions Policy Team has lead responsibility for the EQIA and has sought input and support from Analytical Services and from relevant policy areas in SG, including Social Justice, Food and Drink, and School Food. Input has also been sought from external stakeholders, including Public Health Scotland and Food Standards Scotland.

The EQIA has been informed by several public consultations on the policy, and further specific engagement with public health and business stakeholders through roundtable discussions, and with children and young people, and people with lived experience of socio-economic disadvantage.

A review of the available evidence has also been undertaken to support this EQIA and development of the final policy.

Public consultation

Several public consultations have been run over the course of the development of this policy.

A consultation in 2017-18 included questions on restricting promotions. An analysis of this was published in April 2018.

In 2018, following a commitment in the Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan, the Scottish Government consulted on proposals to restrict the promotion and marketing of targeted HFSS food and drink where they are sold to the public. Analysis of the consultation was published in September 2019.

A further consultation on restricting HFSS promotions was open from the 1 July 2022 to the 23 September 2022. The independent consultation analysis is available on the Scottish Government website.

In 2024, the Scottish Government consulted on the detail of proposals, seeking views on the following:

• targeted foods within the scope of restrictions;
• price promotions within the scope of restrictions, including meal deals and temporary price reductions;
• the approach to placement restrictions of targeted foods in store and online;
• the qualifying businesses within the scope of restrictions, including proposed exemptions;
• the proposed approach to enforcement and implementation.

The consultation ran from 27 February to 21 May 2024. The consultation received 362 responses, 83 from organisations and 279 from individuals. The independent consultation analysis and Scottish Government policy response have been published.

Stakeholder engagement

The Scottish Government has pro-actively engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, including individual businesses, industry representative bodies, public and third sector organisations and individuals.

The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health held several roundtable discussions with public health and business stakeholders, as part of the 2024 consultation process. Summaries of these roundtable discussions have been published.

Poverty Alliance Workshops

The Scottish Government commissioned the Poverty Alliance to recruit and facilitate two workshops considering the impact of restricting promotions on less healthy food and drink items on people living on low incomes.

Internal Health Inequalities Internal Scoping workshop

The aim of the workshop was to explore the impact the policy may have on health inequalities, those with protected characteristics, human rights, and different socioeconomic groups. The internal session was facilitated by Public Health Scotland on the 14 November 2022. In attendance were representatives from Public Health Scotland, Food Standards Scotland, and Scottish Government policy teams representing groups who may be impacted by the policy, such as Children and Families, Social Justice, Food and Drink.

Young Scot

Scottish Government engaged Young Scot as Scotland’s national youth information platform to help facilitate young people’s engagement in relation to consultation and impact assessments on the policy to restrict less healthy food and drink promotions – including supporting young people to contribute their views to inform the development of the policy.

Consumer survey

In 2023, the Scottish Government commissioned a Consumer Survey on Shopping Behaviours and Meal Deals. A quota sample of 1187 adults in Scotland age 18+ years were asked a number of questions in relation to shopping behaviours and meal deals during September 2023. The sample was weighted to be representative of the Scottish adult population by age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES).

Evidence review

The evidence relating to the impact of food and drink promotions on each of the protected characteristics has been reviewed and is summarised in the next section.