Seòmar agus comataidhean

I have two questions. One is very narrow, which I will probably direct—[Inaudible.].

Deputy First Minister, there are lots of reports in this morning’s newspapers that the Scottish Government is coming under pressure because of the English Government’s removal of the requirement to wear face masks in schools. I find it frustrating that, because England has done that, Scotland seems to be asking to follow. What is the Scottish Government’s position on face masks in schools?

In the interests of time, I will also ask my second question, which is about medical exemptions. I understand that there are four categories of medical exemption. In the case of someone who has an underlying health risk, would anxiety about their underlying health be considered part of an exemption right for them not to be vaccinated? I am not advocating that such a person not get the vaccine; I am simply putting a specific constituent question.

I direct this specifically to Robin Gourlay. Earlier, Robin, you talked about having a thread and a plan through all areas of local authorities: planning, economic development, health, education and so on. I think that that is exactly how it should be planned out. We need to go into that in more depth; I hope that we can come back to it.

When you talked about the public and private sectors, you mentioned that the spend from the public sector is about £150 million or £160 million, as against £15 billion from the supermarkets. If we were to be prescriptive in getting supermarkets to source things more locally in Scotland, would we bump up against the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020?

On collaboration—

Do you have an idea of what it would cost to set up a new independent body?

I hear your point. It sounds to me as though that would be a smaller body that would duplicate what everyone else is already doing. A lot is already happening across the food sector. This goes back to a point that Robin Gourlay made. Mary Brennan said that we are at the start of a journey, but we are not. The change in Scotland’s food culture started decades ago, and Robin Gourlay and I were at the start of that process. A huge amount of work has been done already, and many organisations are already involved. Would it not be better to find a way of using the bodies that are currently there and to get them to do the work?

There is a broad range of work to be done, and we are trying to make cultural change. Mary Brennan spoke about targets. How do we set targets that get people to change their culture or way of eating? We would have to be prescriptive. If cultural change is to be driven by targets, the Government would have to tell people to eat cheese on Mondays, fish on Tuesdays and beef on Wednesdays. This is a cultural and educational change.

I know that Mary Brennan has a different opinion.

No problem. I will finish there, in the interests of time.

I have to declare an interest, as I have had a long-term working relationship with—[Inaudible.]

I would like to hear the witnesses’ views on the overall approach to accountability in the bill. Do we require a new body to have oversight of, and report against, the good food nation plans, or can an existing body be tasked with the job? What should the remit be, and what kind of expertise and resources will be required? Does an existing body have all those things? What are your views on Food Standards Scotland’s role in overseeing the Scottish Government’s food policies more generally?

Perhaps we can start with—I am sorry, but I have forgotten your name. I apologise. I am referring to the witness from Food Standards Scotland.

Apologies, Geoff.

If we go by what is planned, the scale and remit will be substantial. What would the set-up and running costs of that organisation be?