Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29890 on 9 July 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Tackling poor diet and obesity remains a priority for us, and we want everyone, no matter where they live, to eat well and be a healthy weight.

Our Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery plan sets out ambitious and wide-ranging action to address this challenge. The Delivery Plan is at https://www.gov.scot/publications/healthier-future-scotlands-diet-healthy-weight-delivery-plan/ .

We are taking forward a range of action across five key outcomes: giving children the best start in life; creating a healthier food environment; better weight management services; leadership; and reducing health inequalities. We have made good progress on a range of fronts and we will report on this when we have been able to take stock, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We will give children the best start in life through a broad range of action to support children and their families to eat well and be a healthy weight. Prevention and early intervention is key, alongside support for those already at risk of overweight and obesity.

We have set a challenging ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030. The measures we are taking to achieve this include:

updating nutritional guidance for early learning and childcare settings and school foods regulations to give children more access to nutritious food;

• providing over £2 million in additional investment to NHS Boards and launched a Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland scheme to promote, support and protect breastfeeding; and

• continuing to provide an additional £1.7m in 2020-21 to improve weight management services for children and young people.

We are working closely with NHS boards, Public Health Scotland (PHS), Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and others to maintain momentum in tackling obesity during these challenging times.

The measures we are taking to narrow the obesity inequality gap among children gap include:

• committing over £110 million to support people struggling to access food during the pandemic, recently extended to cover the summer months. This includes a further £12.6 million to continue free school meals provision throughout the school summer holidays, reaching over 175,000 children;

• increasing in August 2019 the Healthy Start Voucher payments from £3.10 per week to £4.25 a week throughout pregnancy, increasing to £8.50 from the birth of each baby until the child turns one; and

• funding the Healthy Living Programme to increase the range, quality and affordability of fresh produce and other healthier products in convenience retail stores across Scotland, with a particular focus on communities within areas of deprivation.

We have invested over £125m in 2018-19 on welfare mitigation and measures to protect those on low incomes in the face of UK Government’s cuts. Established on 1 April 2020, PHS is taking a leading role to deliver on Scotland’s public health priorities.

The Out of Home sector has an important role to play in providing access to affordable, healthier food choices and in helping to inform consumers about what is in their food. We are therefore also working with FSS and PHS to develop actions to support people to eat well when eating out of home. These actions and the underpinning evidence will continue to be considered as we take into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We will seek to progress the introduction of measures to restrict the promotion of junk food in order to tackle Scotland's reported obesity crisis as soon as it is possible to do so. Any further measures will be considered when we have been able to take stock, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To enable Scottish food suppliers to have more opportunities to promote healthy, local produce, we are investing £200,000 over a three year period from 2018/19 to support Scottish small and medium-sized enterprises to reformulate commonly consumed products. To support this a dedicated Reformulation Connector has been embedded within Food and Drink Federation Scotland to link companies to existing support. A Ministerial summit was also held last year to raise awareness of the commercial benefits and costs associated with reformulating.

We continue to work with the Scottish Grocers Federation to promote the Healthy Living Programme, encouraging the sale of fruit and vegetables in convenience stores. To date, the programme has helped deliver increased sales in over 1,400 stores. We also continue to support community food providers to improve access to healthy food.

Through the Ambition 2030 Food & Drink Industry Strategy, launched in 2017 by the First Minister, we have been working with Scotland Food and Drink and key sectoral trade bodies to sell more fresh, quality Scottish produce to people in Scotland and the rest of the UK. Health and wellbeing is a key aspect of strategy in seeking to respond to changing consumer habits and increasing sales. The Strategy is at https://foodanddrink.scot/resources/publications/ambition-2030-industry-strategy-for-growth/ .

To sustain demand after many food and drink businesses lost their traditional foodservice or export markets as result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have supported Scotland Food & Drink to develop an online directory to help connect companies with consumers and other businesses throughout Scotland. Launched in May 2020, The supportlocal.scot website has over 300 companies listed and it is expected that this directory will continue long term to help direct consumers and businesses to Scottish food and drink producers, wholesalers and foodservice companies, many of whom are increasingly providing healthier choices.

We have asked supermarkets in Scotland to promote Scottish food and drink, and are engaging with retailers to help the industry recover, grow and focus on sourcing more Scottish produce and encouraging ‘buying local’.

We provide grant funding to support encouraging people to grow their own fruit and vegetables locally. ‘Grow your own’ encourages healthier diets, provides opportunities for increased exercise and outdoor activity and reduces food miles. On 26 June 2020, we launched the £100,000 Central Scotland Green Network Fund to support projects within the Scotland area to create, develop or improve their local outdoor food-growing space.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29890 on 9 July 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29890 on 9 July 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29890 on 9 July 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29890 on 9 July 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29890 on 9 July 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government provides free grocery boxes to people who have been asked to shield and who do not have other means of getting access to groceries. The boxes are supplied and delivered by two wholesalers and we encourage them to include Scottish products where possible, within the terms of the contracts. Scottish products such as soup, biscuits and vegetables are already included in the boxes.

Where local authorities supplement the food boxes locally, for example with chilled products or with food that supports particular diets, procurement of the items is a matter for the local authorities.

Viral conjunctivitis is not currently listed in the national case definition for COVID-19. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and College of Optometrists have jointly advised that it is unlikely that a patient would present with viral conjunctivitis as a secondary complication from COVID-19 without also having one or more of the recognised symptoms of COVID-19 - either a new continuous cough, a fever or high temperature, or a loss of or change in sense of smell or taste (anosmia).

Community optometrists are therefore advised to treat viral conjunctivitis in the absence of recognised COVID-19 symptoms as they would usually treat any presentation of viral conjunctivitis, including normal scrupulous levels of infection control and hand hygiene measures.

Scottish Government officials have met with Optometry Scotland regularly during the COVID-19 pandemic period, working collaboratively with others to develop and implement appropriate guidelines for managing patients and staff safely. Officials will continue to regularly meet with Optometry Scotland to ensure that the recovery of community eye care services is delivered in a phased approach, which prioritises the safety of patients and staff.