Agenda item

Consider report by Joint Director of Public Health.  (Copy attached.)

7.1    There had been circulated copies of a report by the Joint Director of Public Health on the proposed response to the Scottish Government’s Consultation Paper, “Reducing Health Harms of Foods High in Fat, Sugar or Salt”.  The document set out proposed restrictions on the promotion and marketing of items termed “discretionary foods” which were foods high in fat, sugar or salt and which should not form a staple of an individual’s diet. The draft response document, which was contained in Appendix A to the report, had been prepared jointly by Borders Public Health and SBC Regulatory Services (Trading Standards).  The report explained that no other country had yet implemented measures to limit the marketing and promotion of these foods in this way and so the policy would be ground breaking.  There were clear potential health and inequality benefits to this proposal in terms of having an impact on rates of overweight and obesity in communities along with associated diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.  However, there were enforcement implications for local authorities as, for example, Scottish Government put forward its suggestion that local authorities be given the role of enforcing the proposed policy with Ministers given powers to issue guidance to local authorities.  The Council had received an extension to submit its response to 31 January 2019.

7.2     The Convener agreed to a short adjournment to allow Members to consider their response to this paper given that notice had previously been given regarding the withdrawal of this item.  Dr Keith Allan, Consultant in Public Health was present at the meeting and explained what he felt were the benefits of implementing such measures in terms of preventing obesity, type 2 diabetes and health inequality in the Borders.  Councillor Laing spoke in support of the suggested response which she proposed should be submitted with some additional text.  Councillor Haslam proposed that the response should be submitted by officers as their view and that each political group submit their own view if they so wished.

          VOTE

          Councillor Laing, seconded by Councillor Moffat, moved that the Consultation response as detailed in the report be submitted from Scottish Borders Council subject to the addition of the following paragraph to question 12:-

          “The success of these proposals will come about through actively promoting good practice and that must be the focus.  The process of educating retail outlets on compliance with the legislation, and the processes of enforcement will take some time to develop.  As a Council we are of the view that across all Local Authorities there will be benefits from sharing best practice on the implementation of the provisions of this legislation.  Also, as there may be significant changes needed in some retail outlets it might be wise for there to be a phased roll-out of the requirements across the categories of foods; so local authorities and enforcement staff can learn what works."

          Councillor Haslam, seconded by Councillor Heather Anderson, moved as an amendment that the Consultation response be submitted as an officer response, including the additional wording as detailed above in the response to question 12.

          On a show of hands Members voted as follows:-

          Motion                -           9 Votes

          Amendment       -           21 Votes

          The Amendment was accordingly carried.      

         DECISION

          DECIDED that the Consultation response be submitted as an officer response, with the additional wording in the response to Question 12.