Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, 1 October 2021
Dear Convener
Thank you for the opportunity to outline how Scottish Government proposals on a right to food is incorporated into our overall legislative plan for human rights and our plans for consultation.
As the committee knows the government is committed to introduce a Human Rights Bill, in this parliamentary session. This is part of taking forward the recommendations from the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership. Those recommendations proposed an overarching framework for human rights in Scotland, including a Human Rights Bill that would give effect to a wide range of internationally recognised human rights in Scots law - including a right to adequate food.
Our Bill will incorporate into Scots law, as far as possible within devolved competence, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This includes a right to adequate food, as an essential part of the overall right to an adequate standard of living. This Bill will therefore ensure that the right to adequate food becomes directly justiciable in the Scottish courts.
The Taskforce report said that as human rights are “indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated” this would be best achieved through a single comprehensive Human Rights Bill and that this approach would “help to reinforce the inter-relationship between all rights and obligations”. The aim of the Taskforce recommendation for a human rights framework was to “put in a single place the human rights belonging to everyone”.
The Taskforce engaged widely with a range of partners, stakeholders and the public to inform their recommendations. Over 50 Taskforce led engagements were held, focusing on a wide range of areas, and the Taskforce work was underpinned by the All Our Rights in Law project, facilitated by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and the Scottish Human Rights Commission. Furthermore, the Taskforce work was informed by a range of research, evidence and expertise, including through an Academic Advisory Panel, set up with renowned academics with extensive expertise in a range of human rights matters.
The Committee will be pleased to know our work on the bill has started. A Bill Advisory Board has been established, chaired by the Minister for Equalities and Older People, and comprising of a diverse range of stakeholder groups representing different aspects of the Bill.
A multi-treaty Human Rights Bill of this nature is clearly innovative and ambitious. Therefore, careful thought and further extensive engagement outside of the Board will of course be undertaken, throughout its development and implementation. As outlined in our 2021-22 Programme for Government, we have committed to consulting on the Bill in this parliamentary year.
You have also asked for comment on the draft proposed Members Bill on a right to food and how it ties in with Scottish Government proposals. For the reasons above, my clear view is that incorporation of international rights is best achieved through a single comprehensive Human Rights Bill which will address these complex issues in a coherent framework. I would be concerned about a fragmented approach to the incorporation of human rights.
On the specifics of the proposed Members Bill, I note the key part is the definition of the right to food and how enforceability of that right is achieved. These are difficult and complex issues which will need detailed consideration. These aspects of the draft proposed Members Bill are as yet unclear, particularly as Bill provisions on this point are not yet drafted, therefore it is difficult for me to provide comment on the content of the proposed Members Bill without that.
As the Committee knows, the Programme for Government and the Shared Policy Programme between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party sets out our clear intention to bring forward a Human Rights Bill which will give effect to international human rights law in Scots law and this will include a right to adequate food, as part of the overall right to an adequate standard of living.
I hope this provides you with the information you require.
Yours sincerely
Shona Robison