Chapter 11.2.3 Food policy

Ensure the Good Food Nation Act delivers for climate and nature

The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 exists to ensure that the Scottish Government takes a full systems approach in its work on food.  This includes the production of a cross cutting National Good Food Nation Plan, duties on all 32 local authorities and 14 territorial Health Boards to produce their own Local Good Food Nation Plans, and the setting up of an independent Scottish Food Commission to oversee and scrutinise the Plans.

International
UK Govt
Scottish Govt
Local Authorities
Emissions reduction
Behaviour change

The Act mandates that the impact of food on climate and nature must be central to each Plan and that Ministers must pay due regard to this when carrying out their duties.  Given the huge impact of food production and related activities on climate and nature, including land use, transportation and waste, this provides one of the primary mechanisms to deliver on the Scottish Government’s ambitions.

In order to do this targets and indicators in the Plans must be both ambitious and deliverable, developed and delivered in collaboration with key stakeholders and with the communities they will impact.  

The Scottish Food Coalition, an alliance of 50+ civil society organisations, has been campaigning for the Good Food Nation Act since 2016 and has four keys asks of the Scottish Government when delivering the Act:

  • The right to food and the right to a healthy environment must be enshrined in Scots law.
  • Legislation must ensure universal access to high quality and nutritious food, produced in a way that is equitable for people and the planet.  This includes the right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. 
  • The Scottish Food Commission must engage meaningfully with civil society when carrying out its duties.
  • Scotland’s civil society provides the food systems expertise, practical experience and connections to wider society needed to make National and Local Good Food Nation Plans both ambitious and deliverable. The Scottish Food Commission’s ‘Corporate Plan’ must commit to this process by including participatory mechanisms for engaging with civil society stakeholders from across the whole food system. 

Scottish Government must adequately support and resource the development and long term delivery of Local Good Food Nation Plans.

Local Authorities and Health Boards must have sufficient guidance, staffing and other resources to ensure that Plans create meaningful change at a food systems level, cutting across all relevant service areas.  This is in line with duties as laid out in the Act. Local Good Food Nation Plans must be developed and delivered as part of fully collaborative partnerships.

Local Authorities and Health Boards must work collaboratively and collectively with their local communities, and with those organisations best placed to support delivery of the Plans at a food systems level.  Good practice should be taken from existing partnership models such as Sustainable Food Places.

For further information:

Version 1.0: September 2023

The contents of this document will be updated on a regular basis.