Chamber and committees

Thank you, convener. I am delighted to be here to introduce this Scottish statutory instrument on specified functions. A key piece of the good food nation puzzle, it identifies when regard must be had to the national good food nation plan. It is a new and innovative approach that is designed to target the need to have regard to the national plan, where that is most relevant.

The overall concept is quite straightforward: Scottish ministers must have regard to the national plan when carrying out specified functions or a function that falls within a specified description. The detail is very technical, but I should say that this is the result of extensive collaboration with other policy areas right across the Scottish Government to work through the complexities of the legislative duties.

Our aim is to ensure that the legislative duty is effective and focused. This innovative approach avoids the imposition of a blanket legislative duty, which would create unnecessary bureaucracy and have no meaningful impact. The SSI’s content is intended to provide a focus for better, more joined-up policy making in relation to food. We are going to assess, monitor and, no doubt, adjust the policy areas in the SSI to ensure that the national plan is making the greatest possible impact.

The SSI sets out where Scottish ministers have the power to carry out a function in relation to food. That power takes two forms. First, there is schedule 1, which sets out specific legislative provisions that contain functions of Scottish ministers in relation to food. Secondly, in order to catch non-statutory functions, schedule 2 sets out the specified descriptions. With such an approach, we are signalling when regard must be had to the national good food nation plan and providing a targeted and focused approach to the development of food policy.

Because this is a new approach, this draft SSI is very different from the consultation draft, which I know the committee had some questions about. The changes, ultimately, are reflective of our evolving understanding of how specified functions and descriptions can be set out to ensure that they relate to the legislative powers and functions of Scottish ministers in relation to food. We have analysed and considered every suggestion that we received during the consultation for input into the SSI, but, in the approach that we have taken, policy areas that are mentioned in the national good food nation plan are reflected, where possible, in the instrument.

You might have noticed what appear to be gaps in some instances. They have arisen because other legislation already provides what is, in essence, a specified function outside the instrument. In other cases, it is because a general duty to have regard to a broad policy area already exists, so it was felt unnecessary to duplicate that in the SSI. I should say that identifying the correct level of specificity has involved a careful balancing act.

The SSI has also been developed in close collaboration with policy officials across the Scottish Government and with input from ministerial colleagues to ensure not only that there is awareness of the have-regard duty from the get-go but that we have the required buy-in for effective cross-Government working.

The functions and descriptions that are currently captured under the SSI cover a broad range of issues that are relevant to food policy. That provides a good starting point, which can and will be built upon as we go forward.

I am happy to take questions.

It might look as though that is a glaring omission in the SSI, but, as I tried to outline in my opening comments, what can appear to be omissions in some areas are covered in other pieces of legislation. If we take agriculture as an example, specific reference to the good food nation plan was made as an amendment to the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2002 in relation to the rural support plan. It does not necessarily make sense to duplicate references that exist elsewhere, and because that duty already exists in the 2002 act, it is not replicated in the SSI. The good food nation plan and its outcomes will still have to be considered.

You have outlined a few other areas that I hope are addressed in the tables and other information that were provided to the committee. They could look like omissions but the specific duties are covered elsewhere. The specified descriptions can cover a broad range of areas, including the development of policy and legislation. I think that we have captured the majority of areas that are specifically referenced in the good food nation plan, and some of the omissions are covered elsewhere.

They have not been excluded, as you can see through the list of specified functions and the tables that I provided to the committee. The specified functions relate to the exercise of very specific powers, but the descriptions capture some of the broad areas that impact on food policy.

If the instrument is not approved by the Parliament, the have-regard duty will not have an effect in those policy areas. I want to make the point that we are trying to develop an innovative approach. I understand that it might not be perfect to start off with, and it might appear that there are gaps as we look to develop the work further. The approach is new, so the monitoring will be important. However, I think that the instrument provides a strong starting point. If gaps emerge, we can always bring forward another instrument to add to those areas, but I believe that we have a strong starting point for the different policy areas across Government that are of relevance to the plan.

I hope that the committee feels in a position to support the instrument today, so that we can look to build on it in the future.

There is engagement between the good food nation team and our wider stakeholders. That has been taking place throughout the development of the SSI—

I will hand over to Tracy McCollin, who can give a bit more information about how that will work in practice and some of the plans that are being developed.

No, because it is the first time that this approach has been taken. You are right that a have-regard duty is not new to legislation. I appreciate that we have discussed that when I have been at the committee to discuss other legislation, but the way in which this approach will operate is new, and that is why it is different.

I completely understand that the committee and wider stakeholders will have an interest in how it will operate in practice, but that is where I think what Tracy McCollin has outlined and how we report on this will be important. We want to be transparent about it.

In some ways, I do not think that the instrument could do that. Some people would be looking to broaden the power. In many ways, it is a very technical instrument. Ultimately, it is about trying to change how we work across the Government. The SSI could appear to be too narrow, but we are looking at a very specific exercise of powers to ensure that it has a meaningful impact. We could broadly reference other pieces of legislation, but the fear would be that that approach to consideration of the good food nation plan would become so broad as to be almost meaningless or a tick-box exercise, which we are really keen to avoid.

In the exercise of specific functions that are relevant to the good food nation plan, we want to show how the outcomes in the plan are being considered and then see a practical effect from that. This is about fundamentally changing how we work across the Government, and it is a new and innovative approach. I disagree that it is too narrow. It is about achieving balance, and I hope that the table that I have set out for the committee explains some of that. There are areas in which people would like to see a whole piece of legislation covered. We have outlined the reason for the specific powers in each of those areas, but there are other areas that are very broad that do not necessarily relate to food. Procurement is an example. We could take a broad-brush approach, but food procurement is more specific, which is why we have taken the approach that we have.

I think that we have struck the right balance, but the danger is that we end up not making anybody happy. We can only look to monitor the approach and add to it in the future to ensure that we cover all the bases once we have seen how it is working in practice. Ultimately, we are trying to ensure that the good food nation plan has a practical impact. That is what we are trying to implement through the instrument.

There will be the monitoring work that Tracy McCollin and her team are looking to establish in relation to the reporting mechanisms, first on how the specified functions and descriptions in the regulations are being applied. There will be on-going consideration and discussion between teams to see whether anything could be flagged as an omission. If we discover an omission, we would then make an instrument. As we have already outlined in relation to the review periods that are set out for the good food nation plan and the reporting that we would have to do, it may make sense to consider acting at that point, when more evidence could be available.

It is not the case that we have drawn a line and that nothing else will be considered in the future. I hope that I have been clear in making that point today. The key consideration would be what specified power needed to be exercised that we could consider adding to the specified functions and descriptions or dealing with in a non-statutory way. We are talking about very broad-brush areas in which not every specific policy is linked directly to food. Again, we would give consideration to all such matters.

I come back to the issue of monitoring. If we felt that there were any specific omissions or any exercises of power that had been missed or that we needed to pick up, we would look to address those.