National Good Food Nation Plan: Island Communities Impact Assessment

Objectives

The national Good Food Nation Plan provides the framework and building blocks to ensure future Scottish food policy is developed in a more coherent way. Ultimately, the Plan is intended to guide the actions of Scottish Ministers when making national food policy.

The Plan sets out six overarching and ambitious Outcomes for food policy. These Outcomes are not intended to be achieved overnight but rather set out what kind of food system we want. They are a description of the Good Food Nation we are aiming to build.

• Outcome 1: The food environment in Scotland enables people to eat well. Everyone benefits from reliable and dignified access to safe, nutritious, affordable, enjoyable, sustainable and age-appropriate food.
• Outcome 2: Scotland’s food system is sustainable and contributes to a flourishing natural environment on our land and in our waters. It supports our net zero and climate adaptation ambitions and plays an important role in maintaining and improving animal health and welfare and in restoring and regenerating biodiversity.
• Outcome 3: Scotland’s food environment and wider food system enables and promotes a physically and mentally healthy population. This leads to the prevention of, and a reduction in, diet-related conditions.
• Outcome 4: Our food and drink sector is prosperous, diverse, innovative, and vital to national and local economic and social well-being. It is key to making Scotland food secure and food resilient, and creates and sustains jobs and businesses underpinned by fair work standards throughout food supply chains.
• Outcome 5: People and communities are empowered to participate in, and shape, their food system. Scotland has a thriving food culture with a population who are educated about good and sustainable food.
• Outcome 6: Decisions we make in Scotland contribute positively to local and global food systems transformation. Scotland actively engages in learning and exchanging knowledge and best practice internationally.

The national Good Food Nation Plan also collates existing food policy to create a baseline of activity across Scottish Government. This first national Good Food Nation Plan does, therefore, not set out new policies. Once the national Good Food Nation Plan has been published, Scottish Ministers must have regard to it when carrying out relevant functions which will be specified in secondary legislation. Any new policy or intervention will be subject to the relevant impact assessment requirements.

In addition, under requirements of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, relevant authorities (defined as local authorities and territorial health boards) will have to have regard to the Plan when developing their own Good Food Nation Plans. This is of relevance to island communities, as island local authorities and health boards will have to produce their own plans and will be able to consider issues that are of particular interest to their local area. This system of vertical policy integration will allow for elements of the national Plan that are of relevance to islands to be considered within the specific local context.

The six Outcomes as set out above are intended to apply at a national level. We do not expect these to impact island communities differently.

In addition, other elements of the Plan mainly address the proposed changes and improvements to working mechanisms within the Scottish Government to ensure we realise our ambition on how to achieve a Good Food Nation. We do not expect this to have a direct impact on island communities.