Chamber and committees

The consultation on the draft national Good Food Nation Plan sets out the indicators and other measures that will be used to measure progress towards achieving the six Outcomes set out in the Plan. This included extending the Scottish Government’s existing target to halve childhood obesity by 2030 to read: “To aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce associated diet-related inequalities”.

The Scottish Government is undertaking work to develop further indicators of progress towards meeting the Outcomes. This work will take account of the responses received to the consultation which suggested indicators that might be used.

Once the final version of the Plan is published there is a legislative requirement to report on the progress towards achieving the Outcomes set out in the national Good Food Nation Plan every two years and to review and, if necessary, revise the Plan within five years.

The first national Good Food Nation Plan represents a fresh approach to food policy and it embeds long-term strategic transformation into decision making at both the national and local levels. The consultation draft of the national Plan set out the six overarching Good Food Nation Outcomes to achieve our ambitions for Scotland’s food system. Draft Outcomes 1 and 3 set out the high-level aspirations in relation to health and diet related inequalities:

Outcome 1 - Everyone in Scotland eats well with reliable access to safe, nutritious, affordable, sustainable, and age and culturally appropriate food.

Outcome 3 - Scotland’s food system encourages a physically and mentally healthy population, leading to a reduction in diet-related conditions.

These Outcomes will be updated and refined based on the consultation responses received before the draft Plan is laid before Parliament in 2025.

Scottish Ministers will need to have regard to the national Good Food Nation Plan when carrying out specified functions in relation to food ensuring a clear, consistent and coherent approach to food policy across policy areas and ministerial portfolios. This approach ensures connections are made between policy areas so that complex issues such as child obesity and diet-related inequalities will be considered in the context of wider food system challenges. As part of this joined up approach the Ministerial Working Group on Food supports cross-Government work to drive progress across portfolios on issues relating to food policy.

Effective approaches to preventing childhood obesity are focused on population-level measures, and therefore it is important that we can track progress on child healthy weight across our communities.

The universal health visiting pathway includes growth assessment of all children at several points across early childhood and supports interventions that promote healthy growth.

Public Health Scotland and Scottish Directors of Public Health established a short life working group, including expertise from local boards and PHS, to consider the Primary 1 BMI surveillance https://publichealthscotland.scot/population-health/early-years-and-young-people/child-health-data-and-intelligence/child-weight-and-growth/routine-health-review/ model and to catalyse work to improve P1 measurement data usability and coverage.

Robust data is really important not only to exhibit the effectiveness of our policies but to inform continuous improvement. We welcome Public Health Scotland and the wider public health system’s continued support on the range of data that underpins our policies.

Scottish Government officials last met Obesity Action Scotland on the 22 October 2024.

At the meeting childhood obesity was discussed as part of their on-going work to support the Diet and Healthy Weight Action Plan.

As reported in the Scottish Health Survey Supporting documents - The Scottish Health Survey 2022 – volume 1: main report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) there has already been a significant decline in children’s consumption of non-diet soft drinks once a day or more, from 38% in 2008-2009 to 16% in 2017-2018, and to 5% in 2021-2022.

The Scottish Government recognises that there is much that still needs to be done to further reduce children’s sugary soft drinks consumption, especially in low-income areas. We continue to support the UK Government’s Soft Drink Industry Levy, recognising the positive impact this has made in reducing sugary soft drinks consumption and incentivising industry reformulation.

The Scottish Government is delivering a range of initiatives to further improve the access and affordability of healthier food and drink options, helping children, especially those in deprived areas, to develop healthier nutritional habits that will last them a lifetime. This includes continued support of the Healthy Living Programme, the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations and the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme(SMHSS) Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme - Maternal and child health - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Government are taking forward a range of actions across five key outcomes: giving children the best start in life; creating a healthier food environment; better access to weight management services; leadership and reducing health inequalities.

This includes our continued support for convenience stores to increase the accessibility of fruit and vegetables in more deprived areas, supporting businesses to reformulate their products to make them healthier, and maintaining funding to community food networks, to enable them to increase access to affordable, healthier food to their communities and to promote the health benefits of nutrition and physical activity.

Specifically, regarding children, we have updated the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations, strengthening the provision of balanced and nutritious food to children.

Our Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme promotes good nutrition to support healthy physical and brain development through the provision of healthy drinks and snacks in the earliest years. We have continued provision of free vitamin D to children under three, and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Over the last 6 years, in addition to the core funding provided to Boards to support maternal and infant nutrition, we have invested more than £10 million to promote, protect and support breastfeeding to help give children the best possible start in life. Breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks are now at 47%. Infant feeding statistics - Financial year 2022 to 2023 - Infant feeding statistics - Publications - Public Health Scotland the highest they have been since records began.

On 30 October I chaired the Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board. This meeting involved a range of operational partners, including Police Scotland and local authorities, to discuss measures aimed at enhancing road safety and progressing towards achieving our vision for Scotland, including the north east, to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030.

One of my Transport Scotland officials recently attended the Aberdeenshire Road Safety Seminar on 10 October, with Police Scotland, local authorities, elected members and key stakeholders in attendance. Road safety at a national level and issues pertaining to the local road network, with a particular focus on the A90 and A952, were discussed.

I have not met with Transport Scotland to discuss road improvements to the Toll of Birness junction specifically.

On 30 October I chaired the Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board. This meeting involved a range of operational partners, including Police Scotland and local authority representatives, to discuss measures aimed at enhancing road safety and progressing towards achieving our vision for Scotland, including the north east, to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030.

Road safety remains of paramount importance to the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland assesses the safety performance of the trunk road network on an annual basis using a robust, evidence-based approach ensuing that funding can be prioritised to those locations that support effective delivery of the Scottish Government’s 2030 casualty reduction targets.

In the current 2024-25 financial year, there has been no design or construction spend at the A90 Toll of Birness junction.

Through Transport Scotlands 2023 annual assessment of the safety performance of the trunk road network, the A90 Toll of Birness junction was not identified as a priority site for further investigation. However it was identified that there have been some collisions in recent years on the section of the A90 to the north of the Toll of Birness junction, between the A90/A952 Toll of Birness Junction and the A975 Junction at Longhaven, which warrant further investigation. Aberdeenshire Council raised concerns around the Toll of Birness junction through stakeholder engagement undertaken as part of the annual road safety assessment process and it was agreed to include the A90 Toll of Birness junction within this investigation. Transport Scotland’s Operating Company, Amey, are currently undertaking this investigation. The cost of this investigation is £10,000.

The Scottish Government has reviewed the personal injury accident information provided by Police Scotland and can confirm that there has been one personal injury accident at the Toll of Birness junction between 1 January 2024 and 30 September 2024, the date for which data is currently available. As this road traffic collision is subject to ongoing Police enquiries no further information can be provided on its cause at the present time.