National Good Food Nation Plan: Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment

2. Summary of evidence

Consultation

We conducted a public consultation on the draft national Good Food Nation Plan and asked questions on:

• Whether respondents agreed with the Outcome wording
• Whether respondents agreed with the proposed set of indicators and targets
• Whether respondents agreed with the vision of what life would look like for a range of different groups in a Good Food Nation

The consultation asked both open and closed questions.

In addition to the consultation on Citizen Space, we also conducted 15 consultation workshops; 10 in person and 5 online.

We ensured that consultation events were spread throughout the country (including rural and urban areas) to ensure people across the country had the opportunity to share their views. We did not collect personal data at these workshops so are unable to assess to what extent issues raised at any individual workshop were reflective of views of any particular group. However, the topics of food insecurity and assuring the human right to food featured prominently in responses on Citizen Space as well as the workshops.

The consultation highlighted several key themes including concerns around how the ambitious Outcomes will be achieved. The full national Good Food Nation Plan consultation analysis can be viewed online.

Key Statistics on Socio-Economic Inequalities in the food system

The food system in Scotland, while being a source of great pride and economic productivity to communities, is also characterised by pervasive inequalities.

Inequalities are evident in relation to the access of food, and in particular to the access of a healthy diet, as well as diet-related health inequalities. Outcomes in relation to these broad categories are consistently worse for people on low incomes and people living in deprived areas. A lower socio-economic status is a key determinant of how people are able to interact with the food system.

The Scottish Health Survey^[1] is a key source of evidence for statistics in relation to socio-economic inequalities and the food system.

a. Food insecurity

• 14% of all adults reported experiencing food insecurity in 2023 – this is the highest level reported since this question was first asked in 2017.
• 23% of adults living in the most deprived areas were worried about running out of food compared to 6% of adults living in the least deprived areas in 2023.
• The Family Resources Survey^[2] run by the Department of Work and Pension allows to take a more detailed look at the types of household experiencing food insecurity. This highlights that households with children or with one or more disabled adults are less likely to be food secure.
• Recent research^[3] commissioned by Food Standards Scotland also reveals that increases in the cost of living have resulted in more people worrying about being able to afford food in the next month, with this being worse for people in the lowest socio-economic groups. The same survey also reveals the increase in cost of living may have resulted in people in lower socio-demographic groups putting less emphasis on having a healthy diet than they may have previously done.
• In addition, there is evidence that healthier foods are more expensive than less healthy options. Healthier foods have also been increasing in cost at a faster rate than less healthy options.^[4]
• At a UK level, households in the most deprived income quintile would need to spend 45% of their disposable income (after housing costs) to afford a diet in line with the Eatwell guide, compared to 11% in the least deprived quintile.^[5]

b. Diet related health inequalities

• Adults living in the most deprived areas are more likely to be overweight than adults living in the least deprived areas.^[6]
• There is also a higher prevalence of diabetes as well as cardio vascular disease (CVD) in adults living in the least deprived areas.
• This is also reflected in the number of children living with healthy weight, with children from the most deprived areas more at risk of being overweight than children from the least deprived areas.
• Recent statistics from Public Health Scotland^[7] on the weight of children at Primary 1 highlight that:
  • In 2023/24, children living in more deprived areas were less likely to have a healthy weight. Among children living in the most deprived fifth of areas 72.0% had a healthy weight, compared to 82.0% in the least deprived areas.
  • Children living in more deprived areas were more than twice as likely to be at risk of obesity (14.0%) than children living in the least deprived areas (6.4%), and were also more likely to be at risk of overweight (12.7% in the most deprived areas, compared to 10.5% in the least deprived areas).

c. Income in the Food and Drink Sector

• Median weekly full time earnings across the Scottish Food and Drink sector stood at £670.70 in 2024, which was lower than the Scottish average at £739.70.

Evidence of the impacts of integrated policies on socio-economic inequalities

We currently do not have access to evidence which shows that an integrated food-policy approach will improve socio-economic outcomes.

Literature on food and wider policy is generally in agreement that striving for policy coherence or integration to address a particular policy challenge is worthwhile, as this may assist in revealing inconsistencies but also foster synergies.^[8]

However, we are unaware of evidence which conclusively confirms that an integrated food policy should result in better outcomes in the context of socio-economic inequalities across the food system. This has not been confirmed with empirical evidence. Gaps exist in relation to the impact of an integrated policy approach as this is something which is extremely difficult to test and it would not be possible to gather this evidence through consultation.

The international evidence on whether national food strategies have a transformative impact is limited. One literature review suggests that integrated policymaking may even exasperate inequalities.^[9] However there is broad agreement that having an overarching approach and common vision is helpful and may lead to improvements more generally^[10].

The evidence on the impacts of integrated policies on socio-economic inequalities is incomplete and in some places contradictory. We will consider this as Good Food Nation Plan is implemented, however, one of the key aims for being a Good Food Nation is access to good food for all irrespective of socio-economic status.

Whilst recognising it will be difficult to measure, we will assess progress against Outcomes on a national level using our monitoring framework, including specific inequality indicators, where available.