Proposed National Good Food Nation Plan: Equality Impact Assessment

The Scope of the EQIA

Given the strategic nature of the Plan, and the fact that it does not introduce new Scottish Government policy but instead collects existing policy, it was concluded that a high-level EQIA would be appropriate. We decided to focus this EQIA on inequalities experienced by equality groups in relation to the food system, in particular in the context of:

• Food insecurity
• Access to a healthy diet
• Healthy weight
• Diet-related health conditions

These topics were chosen as they are areas of concern that impact on all groups, have a direct impact on the quality of life of individuals and communities and are linked to the human right to adequate food (as part of the right to an adequate standard of living set out in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). We recognise that further analysis of other elements of the food system such as the representation of different equality groups within different parts of the food system would be beneficial and we will keep this under consideration for work at a future stage.

We reviewed the available evidence in the EQIA evidence tool to consider potential impacts of the six Outcomes as well as other available statistical publications from UK Government and relevant organisations. The available evidence base was not extensive or was lacking for some equality groups.

We conducted a public consultation that consisted of an online consultation as well as 10 in person and 5 online consultation workshops. We also developed a range of resources to engage children and young people in the consultation process. We received 450 consultation responses via the online consultation and approximately 250 people attended the workshops.

We did not collect equality information during the consultation or at the workshops so are unable to confirm to what extent attendees represented the views of equality groups.

Our evidence collection process is not complete at this stage, as we are also intending to conduct engagement with key organisations that represent equality groups to better understand the lived experience in relation to the food system over summer and autumn 2025.

We considered the following protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Sex
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Gender reassignment
• Sexual orientation
• Race
• Religion or belief

We assessed this against the three Public Sector Equality Duty needs:

• Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation,
• Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not,
• Promoting good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

The assessment was conducted based on conversations and engagement with relevant policy colleagues, the consultation analysis and the evidence collected. It is, however, limited by the long-term and strategic nature of the Good Food Nation project, making detailed assessments difficult. As new policies are developed these will be subject to their own impact assessment, as appropriate.