In September 2025, the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee plans to undertake scrutiny of implications of the Proposed National Good Food Nation Plan for public health, health services and social care.  

The Proposed National Plan was laid in the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Government on 27 June 2025.

Read the Proposed National Good Food Nation Plan

Under the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, the Scottish Government is required to produce a national Good Food Nation Plan which “sets out the Government’s goals for food policy and how it intends to achieve them”. The Act sets out a number of requirements regarding the Plan and the content it must include which are summarised as follows:

• The Plan must include the main Outcomes in relation to food-related issues which the Scottish Ministers want to achieve.
• The Plan must include indicators or other measures by which progress towards achieving the Outcomes can be assessed.
• The Plan must include the policies the Scottish Ministers intend to pursue in order to achieve the Outcomes. It must also set out the Scottish Ministers’ plans for ensuring the implementation of these policies is informed by the views of the food business sector.
• When determining the content of the Plan, the Scottish Ministers must have regard to the scope for food-related issues to affect outcomes in relation to a list of specified subject areas (although other areas may also be considered).
• When preparing the Plan, the Scottish Ministers must have regard to a set of five specific principles and a list of international instruments that are set out in the Act.

Before finalising the plan, the Scottish Government is required to have regard to:  

• any representations about the proposed plan that are made to it,  
• any resolution relating to the proposed plan passed by the Parliament, and  
• any report relating to the proposed plan published by any committee of the Parliament.  

The Committee will take oral evidence from selected stakeholders before producing recommendations on any changes it would like to see reflected in the Scottish Government’s finalised national plan, related to public health, health services and social care.