Improving Scotland’s health

academic attainment gap between pupils from lower and higher income brackets.

I am pleased to tell you that the SNP administration here in South Lanarkshire has already acted in this area and, as part of new budget initiatives agreed in March, the council is to start free breakfast clubs in our primary schools and pilot holiday lunch clubs.

Many of the proposals drawn up by the Commission look at the impact of food inequality on education and health. This builds on two decades of work by the Scottish Government to ‘join up’ food policy areas which in the past may have been separate and uncoordinated.

This makes sense because, as well as obesity, Scotland faces a range of other related health issues, including diet-related cancer and other diseases, low rates of breastfeeding, poor dental health, food waste and food poverty. The new Bill will provide an opportunity to coordinate work on many of these complex issues.

At the same time, the rise of emergency food aid is also now being widely reported, with food banks operating across the UK being asked to provide more and more support to families which experience sudden economic crisis. Local food banks are subject to these same pressures, especially now, with additional problems related to the roll out of Universal Credit.

The sad irony is that while some households therefore go hungry, it is estimated that 270,000 tonnes of edible food is thrown away each year in the UK. Less than 14,000 tonnes of this is currently rescued and redistributed for the social good.

Zero Waste Scotland support food companies, individuals and communities to waste less food, but much more needs to be done.

Here in South Lanarkshire we will do all in our power to support all of these efforts to meet these challenges, and I would urge all readers to do what they can to help in this important local, national and global fight which will benefit generations to come.

The Scottish Food Commission reports that 65% of adults in Scotland are overweight, including 28% who are obese

Crackdown Campaigners hope a ‘sugar tax’on items like fizzy drinks will slow down the obesity crisis