Chamber and committees

Yesterday, I heard about the local governance review, but some of the community groups that I spoke to did not even know that it existed. Therefore, I am curious to know the Scottish Government’s thoughts on what can be done to ensure that people understand that a plan is being made on their behalf and how they can contribute. Despite all the consultations that we hold across Scotland, it seems that we are not really reaching the people who need to be involved.

I have had conversations with Councillor Evison, who is the president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, about the importance of clear outcomes. Although those conversations were on issues other than the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill, I learned from her that we need clarity in outcomes. Targets could give everybody who is writing those plans clarity around the direction that we need to go in with the bill.

I also hear from stakeholders a long-held hope for something that will act as a guiding framework for the Government for future bills that relate to anything to do with our food.

Beyond passing the bill, there is no statutory role for the Scottish Parliament in relation to the national good food nation plan that you just mentioned. The bill requires the Scottish Government to publish and lay before the Scottish Parliament its good food nation plan, but it does not make any provisions for ministers to consult the Scottish Parliament on its draft plans in order to provide for the Parliament or its committees to approve the plan. The bill also does not provide any oversight mechanism in relation to the Scottish ministers’ and public bodies’ requirements to produce a good food nation plan or to have regard to it when exercising the specified functions. I would like to understand the reason for the lack of parliamentary or other oversight of the national good food nation plan.

In a previous theme, you talked about consulting local authorities on the issue and said that local authorities would be writing the local plans. Where is the scope for communities to engage with the creation of the local plans?

The bill says that good food nation plans must set out the main outcomes to be achieved and the indicators that are to be used in assessing progress towards achieving those outcomes, but it does not set out specific outcomes or targets.

The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 has demonstrated that including targets within legislation can stimulate action, embed scrutiny and accelerate progress. The Scottish Government has already set many relevant targets that the bill could incorporate, including halving childhood obesity, reducing agricultural emissions by 31 per cent by 2032 and reducing food waste by a third by 2025. I am curious why existing targets such as those were not included in the bill, and I would welcome your thoughts on whether there is scope to add such targets before the bill is finalised.

Yes—we can hear you.

There are problems for various people who are using BlueJeans. We will suspend briefly to carry out a technical check.

Hello and welcome.

I was saying that we have about nine or 10 questions to go through—

We will now hear from Debbie Herron of Forres Area Community Trust. Will you give us an overview of your community, highlight the challenges that it faces and outline the trust’s strengths and its role in overcoming those challenges and improving outcomes?

Thank you. I will go round everyone again with a second question. Answers can be fairly brief, again, because we have more questions and we do not have a lot of time—I wish that we had a whole day in which to speak to you. We have tried to select organisations that represent experience from across Scotland so that we include everyone. Rona Mackay is in Benbecula and Pauline Smith is in Easterhouse. It is great to hear the range of experiences.

I want to understand what level of involvement you had in the local governance review, your expectations in participating and communicating with the organisers, and your understanding of the next steps. I will ask you to comment in the same order as before. You can be brief. I just want to understand whether you had engagement and how it went.