The National Good Food Nation Plan - Updated EQIA

Recommendations and Conclusion

The EQIA has not identified any negative impacts on protected groups likely to result from the publication of the national Plan. We are aware the available evidence was mainly focused on five specific areas within the food system and may therefore be limited. It has, however, identified positive impacts that we expect to be realised once progress towards achieving the Good Food Nation Outcomes is made. A consistent integration of Good Food Nation Outcomes into policymaking should result in improvements in relation to food insecurity, healthy diet, diet-related health conditions and healthy weight.

We have developed a suite of indicators to measure progress against the national Good Food Nation Outcomes. This will be an incredibly important tool to assess progress. The indicators used are from existing statistical products, which also provide information on sex, age and socio-economic status (i.e. the Scottish Health Survey). As our work on Good Food Nation continues, we will be able to better understand areas of positive development and areas that may require further action. Evidence gathered from monitoring the indicators and collating the information will enable us to more deeply consider the possible impacts that the Outcomes might have on different protected groups for future revisions of the Plan, where this data is available.

As a result of conducting the EQIA we have decided to add a section on inequalities to the national Good Food Nation Plan. This section is intended to act as a prompt for policymakers to consider inequalities when developing new food related policies. It will encourage thinking widely across the system in terms of areas of inequality, highlighting themes we have identified.

Furthermore, we intend to develop resources to support policymakers when they are having regard to the national Good Food Nation Plan, such as building up an evidence bank which can be drawn on when considering areas of inequality in the context of the food system.

The Plan will be reviewed and, as appropriate, revised every five years, and we will update the EQIA accordingly where necessary.