Chamber and committees

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.

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 put in place a healthier food initiative through the Scottish Grocers’ Federation, and we have invested just over £300,000 in that this year for the promotion of healthier foods. I have been to primary schools in areas of higher deprivation where I have heard it explained that healthier food is brought in at breakfast time and for breakfast clubs to support children in choosing healthier options. As I have said, this is a whole-system approach.

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.

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.

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.

I have a short statement to make, if I may. Thank you for inviting me to provide evidence. Addressing cardiac arrests, strokes and sudden cardiac deaths is very important to the Scottish Government, so I am pleased to be here to talk about the petitions.

I want to begin by focusing on the two petitions that relate to defibrillators. As part of the Save a Life for Scotland partnership, the Scottish Government works to improve outcomes from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The partnership has made significant progress since 2015, and I am pleased to say that more than a million people have been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which achieves the target set out in our strategy. Bystander CPR rates and defibrillator usage have also increased, as have survival rates, which is important.

The petitioners highlight the importance of defibrillator provision and usage. Recently, the First Minister and I were pleased to meet Rodger and Lesley Hill, who founded the DH9 Foundation, in memory of David Hill. We discussed their proposal for the placement of defibrillators in schools. The First Minister asked that the DH9 Foundation and the Save a Life for Scotland partnership provide the Government with an agreed position on the best way to increase defibrillator availability and usage in Scotland. In response, our partners have recommended taking a data-driven and localised approach to increasing defib access. That means using PADmap, which shows the location of public access defibrillators, to identify the areas where defibs are most needed, and working with local communities to place them effectively and to support increased awareness and confidence in their usage.

Our partners were also clear about the importance of cardiac responder networks in areas where fixed defib positions might not be the best approach. We are considering how we can contribute to the shared vision of ensuring that communities across Scotland are prepared and supported to respond to cardiac arrest.

Petition PE2067, which was lodged by Sharon Duncan, David Hill’s mother, focuses on improving data relating to sudden cardiac death and the conditions that are associated with it. I strongly agree about the importance of such data, and I am pleased to make the committee aware that, just yesterday, Public Health Scotland published the Scottish cardiac audit programme. That expanded report includes data on inherited cardiac conditions for the first time. In addition, the programme has been working alongside the inherited cardiac condition service along the west coast of Scotland to develop a proof of concept for a sudden cardiac death registry. It is hoped that preliminary data will be included in next year’s report. Those are really important developments that, I hope, encourage the committee and Mrs Duncan that we are working to address the challenges relating to data on sudden cardiac death and the conditions associated with it.

On the petition that relates to the review of the FAST stroke awareness campaign, I very much welcome the work that the Bundy family have undertaken. In May 2024, I met the family to discuss their campaign, and I was moved by their determination to improve awareness of stroke symptoms. Following a meeting with the family, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care asked the stroke speciality adviser to the chief medical officer to review stroke awareness education for clinical staff, which led to the development of an education package funded by the Scottish Government and delivered to more than 1,500 staff in general practices, emergency departments and the Scottish Ambulance Service. The education package also covers the less common presentations of stroke, including symptoms relating to visual field defects and certain presentations of loss of balance. We will keep our position on stroke symptom awareness under review and be guided by the best evidence at all times.

I thank all the petitioners for raising these extremely important issues. The Scottish Government and I take these matters very seriously, and I hope that I have outlined to the committee the steps that we are taking to address them.

Thank you for acknowledging the importance of listening to people with lived experience. In the role that I carry out, which is focused on public health and women’s health, the best support that we can get is from people who have experienced trauma and from those who have had positive experiences in healthcare. It is important to acknowledge that.

The evidence session that you had with Steven Short from the Save a Life for Scotland partnership, Kirsty Morrison from Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and Kym Kestell from the British Heart Foundation was really important, because you were able to tease out a lot of detailed information from them on the work that has been going on regarding out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

I represent Argyll and Bute, which has a wide footprint and fewer urban areas. When I was first elected, I heard about decisions on the location of defibrillators and the volume of them on islands. There was, I think, one per 1,000 of the population there, which, in theory, meant that Mull would have only three. In considering the expanse of Mull, the community recognised that they needed an awful lot more defibrillators, so they did a lot of community fundraising. I recognise that that has happened across Scotland. I commend the support that we get from the British Heart Foundation in helping people to purchase defibrillators for their communities.

It is clear that one size does not fit all, as came through in the evidence that you heard from Steven Short and Kym Kestell. PADmap is a great help in allowing us to focus on where there is need. Kym Kestell stated that people who live in the more deprived areas of Scotland are more likely to experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, so there is a need for defibrillators in those areas.

You specifically asked about what the Scottish Government is doing. As you heard from Steven Short, we are active partners in Save a Life for Scotland. As I noted in my opening remarks, as a result of the recent meeting that Save a Life for Scotland had with Rodger and Lesley Hill, we received a submission from them, which we are currently considering. We will make decisions on the best way for the Scottish Government to ensure that we have the right placement of defibs across all of Scotland’s vast and beautiful geography.