Chamber and committees

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.

This government is committed to ensuring everyone in Scotland has reliable access to safe, nutritious, affordable, sustainable, and age and culturally appropriate food.

The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 provided the framework for our future food strategy, to build an environment where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day. It places duties on Scottish Ministers, local authorities and health boards to produce plans of their policies in relation to food and set out what they will do to make those plans real.

The Ministerial Working Group on Food will provide cross-Government leadership to co-ordinate action on food relevant to achieving a Good Food Nation. Members will work collectively to drive progress across portfolios by providing strategic direction, tackling complex issues and sharing best practice.

To help create a food environment which better supports healthier choices, we are committed to legislation to restrict promotions of food high in fat, sugar or salt at the point of purchase. This is when people make their decisions about what and how much to buy and to consume, for themselves as well as for their families.

Over the last seven years we have invested in the Healthy Living Programme (HLP) and the Reformulation for Health Programme. The HLP helps convenience stores offer healthier choices. More than two-thirds of the 2,300 strong HLP membership serves the most deprived areas of the country and ensures access to affordable, healthier food and drink in those communities.

The Reformulation Programme helps smaller businesses reformulate common products to make them healthier. This is playing an important role in improving dietary health by removing hundreds of millions of calories from Scottish food and drink products sold across the country, including deprived areas.

As noted in the answer to the question S6W-28172, the specialist psychological workforce for children and young people with cancer is currently being reviewed by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) as part of a wider workforce review. The Scottish Government is in conversation with the MSN CYPC as their review of workforce needs continues. This will consider how best to improve access to specialist psychological support for those who need it.

Scottish Government have long advocated for restrictions on the broadcast advertising of less healthy food and drink before 9pm. We welcome the announcement that the UK Government intend to introduce these restrictions next year. We continue to work with the UK Government to further understand the implications of this policy and its implementation for Scotland.

As set out in our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery plan, we remain committed to developing proposals to strengthen outdoor advertising restrictions for food that is high in fat, salt or sugar.

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.

The Scottish Government provides the overall guidance to NHS Boards for patient travel expenses reimbursement. Health Boards are responsible for developing and applying their own policies, including reimbursement rates, ensuring patient care and safety. Health Boards therefore have the discretion to provide financial support for any travel to treatment centres where deemed to be an extension of treatment and clinically necessary.

Scottish Government expects Health Boards to support patients to identify and access support available, taking account of individual circumstances and ensuring that patient care is at the centre of all decisions.

The Scottish Government do not hold any data on the number of children that currently have at least one parent or parental figure with a drug addiction, nor do we collect data that could make an informed assessment of this or provide a proxy.

Scotland was the first UK nation to introduce a ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste, which comes into force on 31 December 2025.

The increase in waste incinerated reflects preparations for the upcoming ban which have already supported a decrease in the total amount of waste going to landfill in Scotland by half over the past decade.

As we continue to increase our reuse and recycling rates, we will produce even less waste, however we will still need an appropriate way to manage our unavoidable and unrecyclable waste – and continue to reduce the amount going to landfill. The development of the Waste Route Map with partners now the Circular Economy Act is in place will be critical in accelerating action in this area.

This is a matter for NHS Lothian. The information requested is not held centrally.