Chamber and committees

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.

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.

When we were gathering evidence for the regulations, I hosted a number of round-table events to support the decisions that I finally made. Those events included people from third sector organisations—NCD Alliance Scotland, for example—and business and health stakeholders, such as Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland. I was very clear at the start of those events that this had to be a whole-system approach. We cannot have a healthy Scotland without healthy people or healthy businesses, and we need healthy people to operate healthy businesses. A circular requirement exists for everything to be ensured.

We are exploring ways to ensure that it has the right support to enable it to focus on the areas that it considers the biggest risk.

I cannot comment on that now. I accept where you are coming from, especially based on the evidence that Professor Alexandra Johnstone gave.

When we were gathering evidence, I recognised that it was important to get feedback from areas where people live with higher deprivation. We had two round-table discussions with the Poverty Alliance to understand how it felt that the policy could impact such areas.

It comes back to what I said earlier about the whole environment that people are shopping in, and we need to look at how we reduce the poorer health outcomes of those in poverty. We did an equality impact assessment, alongside a fairer Scotland duty assessment, to ensure that we were bringing in recommendations and regulations that did not impact too negatively on people’s available budgets; I have spoken about that.

We heard evidence that buy one, get one free offers resulted in people making unplanned purchases, which is why we wanted to review that area and bring in regulations to cover that.

We have also got to recognise that the Scottish Government does a lot outwith the food regulations to address inequalities. We have provided £3 billion to tackle poverty, 1,140 hours of free childcare and free school meals as well as investing in community food networks to ensure that people have access to high-quality, healthy food.

As I touched on earlier, what I saw yesterday, and what I have also seen in a number of food pantries, is the ability to educate people on how to cook healthier meals. There is a whole-system approach.

I have said on a number of occasions that I find this to be one of the most difficult areas of my portfolio, because I love food, and I was lucky to have an upbringing in which the education side of things was explained to me. Indeed, that is why I am passionate about looking at this from a whole-environment perspective and ensuring that when families go to the shops, they see healthy food first and that, when they pay for their shopping, they are not seeing the treats that might push them into a less healthy environment.

You have just taken evidence on the pressure to spend more money on high in fat, salt and sugar items because of buy one, get one free offers. What we want to do with the regulations—they are a nudge in that direction—is ensure that people use their available budgets in the best way possible, so that they get the healthier meals and the healthier food environment that will, hopefully, allow them to be healthier.

As for getting sport on the agenda, I think that last week’s result against Denmark has really put sport front and centre. I would also mention the curling that is going on in my constituency just now, the world stone skimming championships and so on. There is a lot of sport going on that the Scottish Government is supporting, as required.