Chamber and committees

I have had a lot of conversations with officials, third sector organisations and public health areas and businesses. My understanding is that most people recognise what calories are, so they can make informed decisions when calories are on the product. Again, we have received evidence from Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland, and more widely through Nesta and Obesity Action Scotland, about the impact of diets that are high in fat, salt and sugar on health outcomes, whether it be type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues and so on.

We have to be clear and understand the resource that COSLA believes that it needs.

I recognise the work that you do on ultra-processed food. You are right that, initially, the Scottish Government thought that the measures would have to be introduced through primary legislation. However, work that has been done across the years has shown that regulations are the best way to introduce such provisions. Regulations will allow the changes to take place more quickly and, to take a phrase from Ewan MacDonald-Russell and David McColgan on the previous panel, we need to see it done. That is why we are implementing the measures through regulations.

That will be absolutely key. The committee has just heard some evidence about the importance of the work that the University of Leeds has done on the implementation of regulations in England. We have asked Public Health Scotland to ensure that it is doing the right evaluation and to look at how the regulation ties into our population health framework.

We have had many conversations about this topic. I am very clear that I am pleased that we are introducing the regulations at this time. Do I think that we can go further? Yes, I do, and we are continuing to do that work, certainly through one particular piece of legislation—the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022—and the population health framework. I think that you are right: there is no one solution that will improve the health of people living in Scotland. There has to be a much wider and more rounded whole-person approach.

Just yesterday, I spent some time in Dunoon in my constituency with people from the Argyll and Bute youth action council. We were talking about the importance of healthy food in their diet, having lessons on cooking healthy soups and so on. I do think that we need that whole-person approach. I should say that we were also talking very much about the importance of activity and recognising the importance of getting out in nature. In fact, there were some young people from Helensburgh—which is not in my constituency—who were part of a group who climbed to the top of Ben Nevis, and that gave them a lot of learning points. They learned from the exercise about the importance of having good nutrition to keep their energy levels up as they were climbing the hill, as well as about the importance of teamwork and working together to improve health and wellbeing.

For a number of reasons. You are right that I heard those explanations. Meal deals are more difficult to define—they are not simply a sandwich, a fizzy drink and crisps. I recognise that having a meal deal and getting a free packet of crisps is not the best thing to do, which is why we are continuing to explore those specific things under the population health framework.

We have been very clear with Public Health Scotland that that is within its remit, and we are working with it to ensure that the evaluation is done.

You are quite right that there is no point in bringing in regulations if we do not do an evaluation to understand the differences that are made, which would then provide the evidence that would allow us to take additional steps as required.

When we introduced the regulations, we carried out a partial business and regulatory impact assessment that set out where we felt they could impact on consumers, and we found that the impacts were minor. It is important to recognise that.

I think that it was David McColgan who talked about the relationship between wealth and health, and vice versa. I am very clear that, by introducing the regulations, we are allowing people to make the right health choices and ones that, according to the business and regulatory impact assessment, will not impact on their budget too much. As I referenced to Mr Whittle, sometimes the buy one, get one free offer means that people are spending more of their resources on the high in fat, salt and sugar foods than on healthier options.

Yes, they are, is the short answer. We did a lot of evaluation and consultation. It was felt that the appropriate way to follow what has been done in England, as the Welsh have done, was to introduce product placement regulations and regulations for the buy one, get one free price promotions at the same time. That is what we are introducing.

Thank you. I am delighted to be here to provide evidence on the regulations, which were made on 29 October and laid before the Scottish Parliament on 31 October.

As the committee will be acutely aware, in Scotland, we have an issue with high levels of overweight and obesity, and poor diet. Those factors cause and contribute to many health problems that impact on people’s quality of life. Given that around two thirds of adults are overweight or living with obesity, addressing obesity is a public health priority to ensure that Scotland is a place where we eat well and maintain a healthy weight.

Restricting the promotion of less healthy food and drink is a population-level intervention that is expected to have a positive impact on public health across all population groups. The policy seeks to reduce the public health harms that are associated with the excess consumption of calories, fat, sugar and salt, including the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, various types of cancer and conditions such as cardiovascular disease, as part of a wide-ranging suite of actions to support healthier diets and healthy weight.

The regulations have been published alongside a full suite of impact assessments and were developed with valuable input from a range of stakeholders, both in response to the four earlier public consultations, and through targeted engagement with key groups. The regulations will make it easier for people to make healthier food choices, by targeting those food categories that are significant contributors of calories, fat and sugar to the Scottish diet and of most concern in relation to childhood obesity, as described in the UK-wide reformulation programmes.

The regulations will restrict promotions of pre-packed food and drink products in targeted food categories that are high in fat, sugar or salt; restrict certain price promotions of targeted HFSS foods, such as multibuy offers—buy one, get one free offers, for example—and free refills of soft drinks with added sugar; and restrict the placement of targeted HFSS foods in prominent locations in store and online.

The regulations align with equivalent policy in England and Wales and will come into force on 1 October 2026, ensuring that businesses have sufficient time to prepare. However, it is important to note that no single intervention can turn the tide on Scotland’s high levels of overweight and obesity. That is why the Scottish Government is taking wide-ranging action to improve diet and support people to be a healthy weight. The regulations form part of our longer term, whole-system system approach to preventing high levels of overweight and obesity, and poor diet, which cause and contribute to many health problems that impact on people’s quality of life.

I am sure that the committee will agree that the regulations, the first of the actions delivered under “Scotland’s Population Health Framework 2025-2035”, are a key and necessary measure to improve the health of people in Scotland.