Scrutiny of the National Food Plan

While the Scottish Parliament remains in recess until 2 September, there is still plenty of activity in the rural and environmental policy space.

Soil Association Scotland is considering responses to four government consultations and three calls for evidence from parliamentary committees.

These cover a range of issues, from the draft Environment Strategy to scrutiny of Carbon Budgets and a call for input into the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme.

But arguably the most important of the lot concerns the first National Good Food Nation Plan.

Parliamentary scrutiny

The plan was laid before parliament on 27 June, three years on from the passing of the Good Food Nation Act in 2022.

Two committees of MSPs – the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee and the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee have issued a call for views and will hold evidence sessions at Holyrood in September.

This makes sense but given the cross-cutting nature of a national plan on "good food", we would have expected more wide-ranging scrutiny.

For example, the Rural Affairs and Islands (RAI) Committee, which has within its remit "farming and crofting" and "food and drink supply chains" seems an obvious omission.

Our understanding is that the RAI committee does not have enough capacity within its current work programme to conduct effective scrutiny.

This feels like a missed opportunity, but also a failure of parliamentary process.

Avoiding ‘siloed’ thinking

The 2023/24 Annual Report of the Conveners Group at the Scottish Parliament recognised the need for improved scrutiny of cross-cutting policy areas – such as food.

To quote from the report, it said: "The cross-cutting nature of public policy means there are many areas of scrutiny which would benefit from a cross-committee perspective. The need for cooperation and coordination is therefore important for a number of reasons, including: avoiding unnecessary duplication; ensuring that issues do not fall between different remits and making sure that policy is considered in a holistic way, rather than through a departmental silo."

Few would argue that food is an area where it is vital to consider plans in a "holistic" way and avoid siloed working.

However, this is where we are, and Soil Association Scotland has been happy to support a letter from the Scottish Food Coalition to the Minister for Parliamentary Business calling for intervention to ensure proper parliamentary scrutiny of the plan.

A food debate?

This has, in turn, led to calls from the Scottish Food Coalition for a full parliamentary debate on the National Good Food Nation Plan after the summer recess.

This would allow all MSPs to have their say on the plan as laid before parliament.

It would – at least for an afternoon – allow for cross-cutting debate and scrutiny.

This is all the more important when the Scottish Food Commission – an integral part of the Good Food Nation Act – is still in the process of being established.

Over time, the SFC will provide oversight of the national and local food plans. But there will remain an important role for the parliament itself, not least for this first plan.

What next?

In the meantime, we would encourage anyone interested to engage with the calls for evidence from the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee and the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee.

Please do share your views – there are only four consultation questions (broadly the same for each) so it is not too onerous.

Soil Association Scotland is working on its response, highlighting the importance of the Food for Life programme in getting fresh and healthy food into the public sector, the need to tackle diets high in ultra processed foods, the contribution of organic systems in reducing the environmental impact of food production and the omission of market gardens from the plan – and from farm support schemes.