Writing a Good Food Nation plan: a brief guide for relevant authorities

Purpose of this Guide

Before anything else: read the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 This is the legislation that requires Scottish Ministers and relevant authorities^[1] to prepare and publish Good Food Nation Plans, and provides as to the effect of those plans.

While you should pay particular attention to Sections 10-18, which set out the requirements for relevant authorities, there is useful information throughout the Act. Please note that the provisions relating to relevant authorities are not yet in force^[2].

This document outlines the requirements that apply to relevant authorities but it is not intended as a substitute for familiarity with the legislation, nor for obtaining your own legal advice.

The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 requires that relevant authorities each produce their own Good Food Nation Plan: this allows for a level of flexibility in approach to better suit individual local requirements. This guide is intended to give an overview of the steps that relevant authorities should follow when writing their Good Food Nation Plans. The requirements set out in the Act are summarised below, along with some explanatory notes.

Please note that the Scottish Government cannot provide legal advice to relevant authorities: you must seek your own legal advice to ensure the content of your Good Food Nation Plan is compliant with the law.

A note on the meaning of “have regard”

A statutory requirement to have regard to a particular thing means that you must consider it when exercising the function in question. Where there is a requirement to have regard to a specified list of things, you must consider each one.

A relevant authority will be acting unlawfully if they fail to have regard to the particular thing that they are required to have regard to. Compliance with a “have regard to” requirement can be challenged by way of judicial review and so it is important that you can demonstrate that you have considered the points to which you are required to have regard.

Example: The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 requires that Scottish Ministers have regard to a series of food-related issues and to a set of specific principles when preparing their Good Food Nation Plan. Table 3 in Annex B of the draft national Good Food Nation Plan is designed to demonstrate how Ministers have had regard to these by outlining how each of the Outcomes developed for the Plan links to these issues and principles. Relevant authorities need not copy this approach directly, but this gives an example of how you might demonstrate that you have had regard to something.

A note on the role of the Scottish Food Commission

The role of the Scottish Food Commission is to keep under review and advise on the delivery and effectiveness of the Good Food Nation Plans.  It will be established around the time of the publication of the national Good Food Nation Plan.

The Commission’s main functions will include:

• monitoring progress in achieving the outcomes in the Good Food Nation Plans;
• monitoring the effectiveness of the plans in addressing food-related issues;
• providing advice to Scottish Ministers and relevant authorities to support progress and improve the effectiveness of their plans;
• making formal recommendations on action to be taken in relation to the plans.

The Commission will be an executive non-departmental public body, and it will be for the organisation itself to decide how to carry out these functions and how to engage with relevant authorities.

A note on “inclusive communication” and “communicating effectively with children and young people”

The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 requires that relevant authorities and Scottish Ministers have regard to the importance of communicating in an inclusive way, both when consulting on their draft plans and when publishing any documents that are required by the Act (e.g. plans or accompanying statements).

When preparing the draft Good Food Nation Plan and the consultation, the Scottish Government used the Place Standard Inclusive Communication Toolkit including Guidance and Practical Resources - Place Standard Tool Inclusive Communication Toolkit | Our Place for guidance on inclusive communication.

Inclusive communication means communicating in a way that ensures individuals who have difficulty communicating (in relation to speech, language or otherwise) can receive information and express themselves in ways that best meet their needs. Bear in mind that people use a wide range of ways to communicate. Examples include verbal; written; pictures and symbols; and sign language.

Good inclusive communication practice is not only helpful for people who have differing communication needs but is beneficial to everyone. Below are some examples of steps the Scottish Government took to ensure the consultation on the draft national Good Food Nation Plan was inclusive:

• Asking stakeholders how best to engage their networks with the consultation, asking participants to indicate if they have any accessibility needs prior to the consultation workshops so this can be accommodated.
• Using a range of methods to communicate about the consultation (e.g. in-person, 1:1 engagement, online, small group discussions with facilitators, productions of visual / easy-read / translated versions).
• Offering the option to provide translation services at consultation events (e.g. Gaelic).
• Providing positive responses to the different ways that people express themselves, including capturing and recording all responses that are relevant to the content of the Good Food Nation Plan.
• Ensuring that locations selected for in-person engagement are accessible (e.g. appropriate parking and toilet facilities, ensuring there is clear instruction for how to get to the venue, details of what to expect, clear signage, someone to greet people at the door) and where possible, they are familiar. For example, engaging children during term time in their school.
• Consideration of the length and timing of the engagement e.g. the time in the school year, the time of week / day.
• Providing refreshments and frequent breaks to enable people to settle in and relax.
• Asking for feedback from participants about how sessions could be improved.

The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 also requires than when consulting on their draft plans, relevant authorities and Scottish Ministers must have regard to the importance of communicating in a way that is effective in engaging with children and young people. There are many possible ways to do this, and the most suitable avenues for engaging with children and young people will vary across relevant authorities.

It should also be noted that these will be the first set of Good Food Nation Plans produced: approaches to consultation will therefore evolve as lessons are learned about the most effective ways of consulting. It may be the case that different strategies are used in future when consulting on revised plans.

At Annex A you can find a diagram that visually represents the cycles of publishing, reporting on, reviewing and revising Good Food Nation Plans. Briefly, plans should be reported on at two-yearly intervals and reviewed and if necessary revised at no more than five-yearly intervals.

A note on combining Good Food Nation Plans with other plans

As this guide sets out, relevant authorities must meet a range of legislative requirements when preparing and publishing their Good Food Nation Plans. Whilst it is for each relevant authority to decide how to produce their own plan, we recommend that Good Food Nation Plans are produced as stand-alone documents and are not combined with other plans. If plans are combined, there is a risk of not being able to demonstrate how you have complied with the relevant legislative requirements.

A note on partnership working

Relevant authorities may choose to work collaboratively or take a partnership approach to preparing their Good Food Nation Plans.

However, please note that section 10(4)(a) of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 requires that a relevant authority’s plan sets out the main outcomes which they want to be achieved within their areas of responsibility. It may be difficult for individual relevant authorities to meet this requirement if they choose to produce joint documents.