Food Commission minutes: June 2016

Attendees and apologies

Participants

• Caroline Mockford
• Claire Hislop – NHS Health Scotland
• Davy Milligan
• Donnie Maclean
• Heather Peace – Food Standards Scotland (FSS)
• Jamie Dunlop
• Julie Fitzpatrick – Vice Chair
• Ken Mackenzie
• Peter Midgley – FSS
• Peter Morgan
• Pete Ritchie
• Robin Gourlay
• Shirley Spear– Chair
• Aysha Miah – SG Food & Drink
• Joanne Boyle – SG Food & Drink
• Mike Palmer – SG Food & Drink
• Pamela Berry – SG Food & Drink
• Peter Faassen De Heer - SG Health Improvement and Equality unit
• Tony Rednall - SG Health Improvement and Equality unit
• Rose Munenura - SG RESAS
• Angelica Lorenzo – SG RESAS

Apologies

• Ally Dingwall
• David Croft
• Eleanor Cunningham
• Jackie Brock
• Pam Whittle

Items and actions

1. Welcome and introduction

1.1. Shirley Spear welcomed Commission members and all guests to the meeting.

1.2. Julie Fitzpatrick on behalf of the Commission congratulated Shirley Spear for receiving an OBE for services to Food and Drink in Scotland.

1.3. Shirley Spear noted Margo Wordie’s resignation due to personal reasons and that a replacement is being sought.

2. Best practice example

2.1. Greig Sandilands from North Glasgow Community Food Initiative did a short presentation to the Commission about the work of the community health project. This is run by volunteers aiming to improve the awareness of healthy living in North Glasgow. Activities include low price fruit and vegetable stalls; community garden project; cookery course and outreach work.

2.2. Commission members were very interested to learn of the project’s work and a short Q & A session followed.

Action:

• North Glasgow Community Food Initiative to be added to the Good Food Nation Best practice examples being developed - Julie

3. Minutes and actions

3.1. The minutes of the Commission meeting held on 3 March 2016 were agreed as a correct record and have been published.

3.2. Shirley Spear reminded members to complete the Declaration of Interest forms if required.

3.3. The Chair acknowledged previous discussions about the Public Food Recommendations paper and noted this was distributed to all members for formal approval. Shirley Spear invited Robin Gourlay to speak to this paper briefly.

3.4. Commission members had no further comments to make and approved the paper. The Scottish Government will prepare a paper for submission to the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity to consider and will recommend the Cabinet Secretary responds to the Commission.

4. New administration reflection and ways of working

4.1. The Chair invited discussions from members to discuss the new administration and ways in which the Commission can support the Manifesto commitments.

4.2. A discussion followed which raised the following points:

• concern regarding food and drink in the portfolio as it no longer forms part of the Minister’s title. Also that food and drink just doesn’t sit under rural economy
• this maybe a good opportunity to shift focus and encompass a collective and cross cutting approach by reinforcing to all Ministers the importance of Food and Drink across a range of portfolios

4.3. Julie Fitzpatrick presented on how she felt the Commission could progress and reflect the new Scottish Government priorities. There was discussion amongst members who agreed to this approach.

4.4. Shirley Spear invited members to suggest sub-groups and to consider which sub-groups they wish to participate in.

Action:

• preparation and circulation of a paper on the different subgroups – Julie Fitzpatrick
• further comments on subgroups and notes of interest - ALL
• meetings, conferences etc attended as a representative of the Food Commission should be recorded centrally to help measure the impact of the Commission – ALL to SG to record

5. Update on marketing

5.1. Joanne Boyle updated the Commission on progress made with Scottish Government Marketing Colleagues to develop a website to help with communication and marketing of the Good Food Nation (GFN) movement.

5.2. There was discussion amongst members about how to develop the GFN website and how to ensure engagement from the public.

5.3. It was suggested that members could become engaged and that this will form as a sub-group which members can volunteer to be a part of.

Action:

• members to be kept up to date and invited to assist with the work via a sub-group - Joanne

6. Feedback on Food Standards Scotland discussion

6.1. Peter Midgley and Heather Peace from Food Standards Scotland (FSS) gave a presentation which reflected comments from members at the last meeting and written feedback as requested which was followed by a wider discussion.

6.2. It was reiterated FSS provide dietary advice and the Commission agreed that GFN should complement its work.

6.3. The Commission agreed that they must work in alignment and collectively with the FSS whose findings/research is based on scientific findings.

6.4. The Commission supports the FSS on the Eatwell guide. It appreciates that the guide may develop over time but that it is a good standard to follow.

7. Presentation from SG Health

7.1. Tony Rednall and Peter Faassen de Heer from Scottish Government’s Health Improvement and Equality Unit gave a presentation about ongoing work which was followed by a Q & A session.

8. Breakout sessions and feedback

8.1. Based on the presentation above the Commission members were asked to form 3 groups to discuss one of the selected three topics below and then to provide feedback to all:

• question 1 – How do you make it cool / appealing to eat healthy food?
• question 2 – How can the food we produce contribute to progress towards meeting the Scottish Dietary goals?
• question 3 – Good vs. healthy food. To what extent is good food assumed to be healthy and how can the Food Commission help position healthy food into good food (vice versa)

8.2. Discussion followed about how to take forward the feedback from the discussion and breakout sessions via work streams and sub-groups.

Action:

• a paper to be prepared and circulated summarising the advice and recommendations from the health session and breakout groups for discussion and sign off - SG

9. Discussion of what's next

9.1. The next meeting will be on 8 September 2016 at Rosebery House (Young Scot), 9 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh.

9.2. The theme of the meeting will be Knowledge. A draft agenda will be worked up.

10. AOB

10.1. The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has launched a consultation on proposals for further restrictions on the advertising to children of food and soft drink products in non-broadcast media. Members may wish to submit feedback either individually or on behalf of the Food Commission.

Action:

• link to CAP consultation to be circulated – SG

Summary of actions

• information from the Food Initiative to be requested to add this to the Good Food Nation Best practice examples being developed. – Julie
• preparation and circulation of a paper on the different subgroups – Julie [complete]
• further comments on subgroups and notes of interest – ALL
• meetings, conferences etc attended as a representative of the Commission should be recorded centrally to measure the reach of the Commission – ALL
• a paper to be prepared and circulated summarising the advice and recommendations from the health session and breakout groups for discussion and sign off – SG
• members to be kept updated and invited to assist with marketing work via a sub-group – SG [commenced]
• all presentations to be circulated to members – SG [complete]
• link to CAP (advertising) consultation to be circulated – SG [complete]

Food Commission - meeting minutes - 14 June 2016.pdf

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