The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

3. Overview of the discussion process

This section of the report describes the activities and events that featured in the national discussion on the Future for Food in Scotland.

The discussion process commenced on 15 ^th January 2008 and ran until 25 ^thApril 2008. The discussion was launched at Sighthill Primary School where Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead was joined by chef Nick Nairn.

The launch was followed by a Scottish Food and Drink Federation event held in Edinburgh where Richard Lochhead was again in attendance. The meeting contained a large food processing and manufacturing industry audience. Other stakeholder organisations also chose to hold events during the discussion process, with the Food and Health sector engaged through a conference held at Murrayfield on 5 ^th February. The new sector organisation, Scotland Food and Drink, held their first two-day conference in mid February, and the National Farmers' Union of Scotland held their national conference in Dunblane in late February. Richard Lochhead highlighted the food policy discussion at all of these events. Scotland Food and Drink also held a workshop looking at investment and innovation on 13 ^th March.

The process looked to engage wider agricultural and rural interests with a policy seminar in Peebles on 29 ^th January, while the Blog went live in early February, and responses were posted online to the discussion process, with videos posted during February with Gareth Baird and Nick Nairn featured.

There was strong representation on food and health aspects of food, with four events (including the food and health alliance) specifically targeting stakeholders looking at these areas. These events included: the University of Dundee's Centre for Public Health and Nutrition which invited stakeholders to a meeting on 12 ^th March; Edinburgh's Food and Health Community Group which discussed the policy on 13 ^th March; Community Food and Health held a national seminar in Glasgow on 18 ^th March; and the Moray Food and Health Group which hosted a discussion seminar in Elgin on the 7 ^th April.

While the Food Standards Agency launched their research into food affordability on February 5 ^th, there were also other FSA internal and external events. The FSA board met on 12 ^th February, while more public meetings were held on their 'Recipe for Success' initiative on 4 ^th March and with stakeholders on 5 ^th March.

At the Scottish Parliament, the Cross Party Working Group conducted meetings amongst MSPs and stakeholders on three occasions during the consultation, with topics discussed including sustainability, skills, community initiatives and health and inclusion.

Other interest groups also engaged with the process. The Highland Environment Group held a stakeholder meeting to discuss the discussion document on 15 ^th March; the Education - Food and Drink group discussed submissions to the process on 17 ^th March and the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland held a meeting on 17 ^th April.

The retail sector was not left out, as there was a retailer event hosted by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Retail Consortium on April 8 ^th, while Tesco's Taste the Locals event was held in George Square, Glasgow for the public on April 25 ^th. Finally, provision was made in meetings throughout the discussion period for representation from all stages of the food chain and associated interests in food, health, the environment, tourism, skills, education and consumer interests. Table 3.1 records the known events and activities that took place throughout the discussion period.

Table 3-1: Timeline of the discussion process

« Previous | Contents | Next »