Proposed National Good Food Nation Plan
The proposed national Good Food Nation Plan has been laid before the Scottish Parliament. It sets out over-arching Outcomes; the range of targets and indicators used to gauge progress towards achieving them; and details of food-related policies and initiatives from across the Scottish Government.
Footnotes
1. We define food system in line with the UN definition as: “all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures, institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation and consumption of food, and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes” (UNEP (2016) Food Systems and Natural Resources. A Report of the Working Group on Food Systems of the International Resource Panel).
2. Note that “food system” is distinct from the “food environment”. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations states that: “Food environments comprise the foods available to people in their surroundings as they go about their everyday lives and the nutritional quality, safety, price, convenience, labelling and promotion of these foods. Food environments play an important role in shaping diets because they provide the choices people have when they make decisions about what to eat. A healthy food environment is one that creates the conditions that enable and encourage people to access and choose healthy diets.”
4. Scottish Government RESAS (Rural & Environment and Analytical Services) data based on HMRC trades in goods statistics
5. “Diet-related conditions”, also known as non-communicable diseases, refers to illnesses that result from diets that have an imbalance of particular nutrients or food groups. Common diet-related conditions include: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, certain types of cancer and nutrient deficiencies.
7. Northern Ireland Food Strategy
8. UK Government Food Strategy
9. Please refer to Annex A for full detail of the legislative requirements applying to this document.
10. The Scottish Government has committed to bringing forward legislation in Session 7 (2026-31) of the Scottish Parliament – subject to the outcome of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election – to incorporate the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into Scots law, within the limits of devolved competence.
11. The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 fully commenced in July 2024, which means that the UNCRC has been directly incorporated into Scots law, within the limits of devolved competence.
12. The Scottish Government has committed to bringing forward legislation in Session 7 (2026-31) of the Scottish Parliament – subject to the outcome of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election – to incorporate the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women into Scots law, within the limits of devolved competence.
13. Based on UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment 12 on the right to adequate food - to note that General Comments are intended to provide further guidance on how the treaties are to be interpreted and provide assistance to States parties to the Conventions in fulfilling their reporting obligations. They are not legally binding and provide guidance on how the articles of the treaties should be implemented.
14. The NPF sets out 11 National Outcomes for Scotland: these Outcomes describe the kind of Scotland the framework aims to create.
15. The SDGs are a set of “global goals” and targets that are part of an internationally agreed call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
16. 'have regard' is a legal term meaning to take the relevant document into account and, if the Scottish Ministers decide to depart from it, they must have and give clear reasons for doing so.
17. The secondary legislation which will specify the relevant functions and descriptions of functions will be laid in the Scottish Parliament in the latter half of 2025, due to come into force by the end of 2025.
18. “Diet-related conditions”, also known as non-communicable diseases, refers to illnesses that result from diets that have an imbalance of particular nutrients or food groups. Common diet-related conditions include: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and nutrient deficiencies.
19. The requirement for relevant authorities to publish good food nation plans is set out in section 10 of the Act. Relevant authorities must comply with this duty before the end of the period of 12 months beginning with the day on which section 10 comes into force. Section 10 is currently not in force.
20. This new, statutory, Scottish Food Commission is not to be confused with the previous, non-statutory commission of the same name which completed its work in 2018.
21. The Scottish Food Commission will be formally established 30 June 2025.
22. Scottish Government, Child poverty analysis
23. Food affordability as measured by the percentage of net income spend on food and non-alcohol drinks by low income households with children as captured in the Living Cost and Food Survey is available here.
24. There is substantial uncertainty in the magnitude of emissions associated with food
consumption in Scotland (see Understanding the climate impact of food consumed in Scotland).
25. Scotland’s Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030
26. Impact of Climate Change on the UK Food System | Published in FSA Research and Evidence
28. Biodiversity strategy to 2045: tackling the nature emergency - draft - gov.scot
29. Non-methane volatile organic compound (VOCs) and Particulate Matter PM10) and PM2.5 (PM10 and PM2.5 is a measure of the size distribution of the particles emitted to air and represents the material with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 and less than 2.5 micrometres respectively).
30. Monitoring soil health in Scotland by land use category – a scoping study
31. Animal welfare policy indicators - European Commission
32. Scottish Government have consulted on phasing out cages for laying hence and gamebirds to improve welfare as a specific new measure: Poultry welfare – laying hens: consultation - gov.scot
33. Note that livestock will also be inspected by APHA/SSPCA and in abattoirs by FSS.
34. Detailed production figures for shellfish and other finfish are available from the Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2023 and Scottish Shellfish Production Survey 2023.
35. The SFI was used under the National Performance Framework. The latest figures were quoted in an answer to a Parliamentary Question.
36. The Scottish Health Survey 2021 - volume 1: main report - gov.scot
37. The Scottish Health Survey 2023 - volume 1: main report - gov.scot
38. Throughout the data references to “children” in outcome 3 should be read to mean children aged 2-15 years old.
39. The Scottish Health Survey 2022 – volume 1: main report - gov.scot
40. Note BMI data of children collected at Primary 1 and provided by Public Health Scotland shows a gap of around 10% in healthy weight between the most and least deprived areas in 2023-24.
41. It is important to note that diet and excess weight are not the only risk factors for these diet related conditions. Other factors, such as physical activity or smoking may influence risk of these conditions.
42. Further data on employment in aquaculture sector can be found in the Scottish Shellfish Farm Production Survey 2023 - gov.scot and the Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2023 - gov.scot.
43. Note a business may survive without expanding, innovating, or contributing significantly to economic output, missing key aspects of sustainability like profitability or job creation.
44. Innovation active businesses are those that are engaged in any of the following activities: the introduction of a new or improved product (goods or services); business processes used to produce or supply all goods or services that the business has introduced, regardless of their origin (these innovations may be new to business or new to the market); and/or innovation projects not yet complete or abandoned.
45. A report produced by the Food and Drink Federation gives some more detail on wider Diversity and Inclusion metrics for parts of the Food and Drink sector at a UK level.
46. The difference between average hourly earnings excluding overtime of men and women, as a proportion of men's average hourly earnings excluding overtime.
47. United Kingdom Food Security Report 2024: Introduction - GOV.UK
51. Vertical Farm – SRUC King’s Buildings, Edinburgh
52. Hemp: a climate resilient crop for the future of Scottish agriculture | SEFARI
54. Public procurement policy and legislation requires public bodies to consider and act on opportunities for small or medium enterprises (SMEs), the third sector, and supported businesses to access contracting opportunities. Domestic legislation and international trade obligations prohibit activities that would discriminate between suppliers on grounds of nationality or locality, or which would result in unequal treatment of suppliers.
Contact
Email: goodfoodnation@gov.scot