 Felly, rydw i'n gweithio. The next item of business is a statement by Aileen Campbell on developing a new diet and obesity strategy for Scotland. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. Colin Aileen Campbell, minister, 10 minutes are thereabouts, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am delighted to update Parliament on our proposals for improving diet, activity and weight in Scotland and to announce the publication of our consultation document. That forms part of our wider efforts on public health to improve Scotland's health and ensure the sustainability of our NHS. As the nation's waistline expands, so too does the cost of dealing with the challenges posed by obesity, the cost to our NHS, the cost to our economy and, importantly, the human cost of poor health and wellbeing. Over the past 15 years, progress towards meeting our national dietary goals has remained stubbornly challenging. Recent Scottish health survey figures show that, in Scotland, two-thirds of us are overweight or obese. One in five children are at the risk of overweight or obesity, and of great concern is that this particular health problem is more marked in our most deprived areas where the obesity rates for children are very substantially higher. Poor diet is associated with 13 types of cancer, heightened risk of type 2 diabetes and a range of cardiovascular and other conditions that can be debilitating and can shorten life expectancy. The statistics are important, but we must also understand the implications that this has on the day-to-day lived experiences of people, their happiness and their sense of wellbeing. That lived experience that I heard about today, whilst at heart of Midlothian football fans in training session hearing from people like Wattie, who has described his transformed life through fit and losing weight. I thank hearts for hosting us today. What makes the obesity challenge all the more heartbreaking is that we know that much of this poor health can be avoided and prevented. We know that, if we get the strategies approach correct by intervening early enough, appropriately and correctly, we can help people and communities to avoid poor health through long life expectancy and enjoy life. That is a goal worth pursuing. This strategy outlines the way in which we believe that we can help to shift the culture of poor health and obesity from being the norm towards good health and positive choices being embraced. Scotland has an exciting opportunity to lead the way, but it is important that we recognise the progress that has been made and that, whilst acknowledging that some problems persist and remain, we are not embarking on this from a standing start. The healthy living programme supports healthier options in grocery stores. The healthy living award recognises good practice in catering settings. The healthcare retail standard in the NHS shows how promotions can be rebalanced towards healthier food, and football fans in training and the daily mile are living proof that regular physical activity is achievable no matter what your age is. This work and commitment has helped to slow the rate of weight increase, but just as we have on other major public health matters, we recognise the need to go a lot further. That is why I am publishing a bold plan for improving diet, weight and activity for Scotland. There is no simple solution, there is no quick fix, but a growing body of evidence points to the action that we must take to make a real and tangible difference to people's lives, communities and the country as a whole. I am grateful to Obesity Action Scotland, Cancer Research UK and others for their important work in this area. There are three main pillars of our proposed approach, and I would like to focus on them in turn. I am clear that improving the food environment is the single biggest change that we need to see in Scotland. The reality is that many of us find it challenging to make healthy choices in an environment where food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar is cheap, widely available and heavily promoted. I do not doubt for a minute the value of food labelling and other ways to help people to make informed decisions, but the odds are stacked against most shoppers. We have data showing that 35 per cent of all food and drink purchased in Scotland is on price promotion, around double that of Germany, France and Spain. We know that high fat, salt and sugar food is more likely to be bought on promotion compared to healthier alternatives. Cancer Research UK's recent survey found that 89 per cent of parents in Scotland believe supermarket promotions influence what they buy, with more than half stating that multi-buy offers lead to them buying more junk food than they really want. Therefore, consistent with our programme for government, the new strategy proposes action to restrict the promotion of food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar. We look forward to hearing people's views, both here and beyond the parliamentary chamber during consultation, on how best we collectively approach that. The first steps will be to consider what high fat, salt and sugar products and types of promotions should be targeted such as multi-buy or X for Y. There is more that we can do and will do to improve the environment, particularly to protect children from exposure to junk food advertising. It is disappointing that the UK Government did not take the opportunity to extend the current restrictions on broadcast advertising before the 9 p.m. watershed. Many credible commentators have identified that as a crucial measure in the fight against obesity. If a commitment is not forthcoming, we will request that the irrelevant powers are devolved to the Scottish Government. We will not let this matter drop. In contrast, using the devolved powers that we have, we will use them. That is why we will seek to extend the current restrictions on non-broadcast advertising on junk food to places commonly used by children. Those could include streets or locations such as visitor attractions and safer routes to schools. If we want to make good on our shared ambition to make Scotland the best place to grow up, we must ensure that we provide our children with the best chance and environment to be healthy. Earlier, I spoke about weight as a major contributory factor to serious disease. I also said that much of that is preventable. Let me put that into perspective. Over a quarter of a million people have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in Scotland. Around 9 per cent of the health budget is used on their care. We know that 87 per cent are overweight. More worryingly, Diabetes UK estimates that a further half million are at risk of developing type 2. Although at the extreme, around 1,700 people have had a major lower limb amputation as a result of their diabetes. That is all preventable. In a population of 5 million, those costs are significant—the cost to people and their families, the cost to our health services and the cost to our economy. They give us strong economic and health imperatives to act. Type 2 diabetes is an example of where we can have a significant impact. We know that losing weight and maintaining healthy weight can improve the health and lives of people affected by type 2—even more important if we can delay, prevent and even reverse the onset of this disease. That strategy therefore signals our intention to establish supported weight management as a core part of treatment for people with or at risk of type 2 diabetes. That is entirely consistent with our aspiration to offer a world-class diabetes service. To support that work, I can announce that we propose investing 42 million over the next five years to support the delivery of this ambitious, innovative and potentially transformative approach. That consultation also proposes action in many other important areas—early years—because we know that habits formed in childhoods can last a lifetime. Leadership, where the scale and pace of change needed, will require long-term commitment right across the public, private and voluntary sectors, and physical activity, because we know that an active lifestyle alongside a healthy food environment will be to the lasting benefit of everyone in Scotland. This Government and this Parliament has led the way on public health with its groundbreaking strategies on smoking and alcohol. We must now focus on the next great challenge—diet, weight and activity—in the knowledge that we are at our best when we are bold. In doing so, we must keep people at the forefront of our minds. As Minister for Public Health, I have seen first-hand how lives are transformed by healthier weight and diet. That happens when people are empowered, enabled and equipped with the ability to make positive decisions about what they eat. It is about ensuring that good habits are established in the early years and about educating our teenagers with the knowledge that they need as they emerge into their own adulthood. That is what enables them to make choices that sustain good, healthy lives for themselves and as potential parents of the future. The consultation paper that I am publishing today sets out an ambitious and forward-thinking set of proposals. Over the coming months, I look forward to many conversations around a country about our ideas and considering the many ideas that I know will come to us. If people think that there is a case for going further, we will certainly look at it. This Parliament is at its best when it works together across political boundaries, united by a desire to create a better Scotland for us all. Regardless of the bumps that we will no doubt encounter along the way on this journey, if we succeed, we stand to gain the biggest prize—a healthier, happier and fairer Scotland. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement and tend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we must move on to the next item of business. I will be helpful if those members who wish to ask a question ensure that they press the request-to-speak button now. I thank the minister for prior sight of her statement. I welcome the Scottish Government's intentions in launching this consultation on a new diet and obesity strategy for Scotland. It cannot come sooner enough, because we know that, as the minister has outlined today, two-thirds of Scottish adults are overweight, and nearly a third of children in Scotland are deemed as at risk. Turning this around requires support from all Government departments, public institutions, businesses and all sides of the chamber. I very much take that on board. One of the key priorities that the Health and Sport Committee has become acutely aware of is the need for a cross-portfolio approach to this. I hope that the minister will look to how that is taking forward across all local authorities and ministries in Parliament. I hope that today we will mark a point when we can look back and see how this Parliament has made a real difference. Maybe that also comes down to the fact that today we will also need to make sure that we see an end to the potential SNP swim tax that was going to propose extra charges on some of our leisure facilities and how that would fit into this strategy. How will the progress of this strategy be measured by the Government? I thank Miles Briggs for his question, for his interest and for his suggestion that there is a willingness to work across political parties to make sure that we can make good on the aspirations that I have set out today. Of course, he is absolutely right to make sure that public health demands the attention of not just the health department but all departments across government and also beyond that between our local authorities and other public and private bodies as well. The strategy that I have set out and the consultation document that I have set out also indicates where there can be cross-portfolio working, whether that is in education or in the planning world, about how we plan and shape the spaces and places that we live in to make sure that they are conducive to healthier, happier lives and also to nudge us in the direction towards making active travel choices. The programme for government also articulates that desire to see us working across portfolios to make sure that we can create the healthier country that I think we all seek to create. I hope that that gives some reassurance that there is a desire right across government to work collaboratively, to work together and to disregard those boundaries that are set within ministerial portfolios because life does not fit into one single ministerial portfolio. In terms of how we will measure success, that is why we have focused in the way that we have on diabetes, on promotion and early years. We can measure some of the impacts of our success through the primary 1 weight and chart the improvements that we are when we take the weight of primary 1s and chart that improvement. We can see and track promotions and purchase them through our endeavours to tackle the promotion of unhealthy foods. Also, the Sky Diabetes Database can evidence the improvement that we seek to make on that. I hope that that provides reassurance that that is not just a strategy designed to simply be warm words. There are clear ways in which we want to measure success because there is determination in this great health challenge that we face in Scotland that we need to tackle it and be evidenced based on our approach. Colin Smyth, I thank the minister for prior sight of her statement. The obesity crisis is the single biggest public health challenge that is facing Scotland today and one that sadly too often impacts on our most deprived communities. Two thirds of adults overweight over a quarter of children. The worst rates in the UK and among the worst anywhere in the world. It is clear that the current obesity route map has not reached its milestones and bold radical action is very much needed. Labour therefore very much welcomes the publication of this long overdue strategy and in particular the commitment to restrict the promotion of food high in fat, salt and sugar. I want to pay tribute to organisations such as Cancer Research UK and Obesity Action Scotland who have campaigned so effectively to ensure that at last the Government has recognised the importance of regulation to make the healthy choice the cheaper choice for families. At 11 o'clock will the minister give a clear commitment that this consultation exercise will not be used in any way to water down a commitment to tough regulation whatever pressure she may come under. Will the minister also accept that one of the reasons for the lack of effectiveness of the existing obesity route map was the failure to have regular comprehensive measures of success and therefore ensure that the new strategy will be underpinned by clear and forcible targets, not just those for diabetes. Those will be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis by this Parliament, so we do not have to wait another six years should we need to change course again. I thank Colin Smyth for his support and welcome for the consultation document and for his particular welcome on our intentions for restrictions on high-fat sugar and salt foods. I agree with what he says about the work that has been taken forward by Cancer Research UK, Obesity Action Scotland and a whole host of other organisations out there that represent many of the illnesses and the conditions that are associated with obesity for setting the tone for us to be able to move forward with momentum on the journey of tackling obesity and the challenges that it poses us. I cannot be more straightforward, we want to restrict marketing and promotions of high-fat sugar and salt foods. There is no intention for us to do what happened in the UK Government's proposals where they set out a consultation that indicated a direction of travel. Unfortunately, when our strategy was published, it fell short of some of the aspirations that had been built up around that. That is not our intention. We will certainly be bold, imaginative, innovative and determined to make a difference on that issue. We will listen to what others have to say on that. I noticed that sometimes there was a bit of begrudging tone in some of what Colin Smyth said. I am not sure if he intended that, but hopefully during the 12-week-plus consultation process that we have, that will give them some time to formulate some ideas of their own, as opposed to just simply coming to the chamber asking us to do more, but not necessarily being specific on what more action we need to take forward. I hope then, therefore, that the 12-week consultation process gives Colin Smyth and his colleagues time to bring us some ideas. I have 10 members who want to ask questions. I have only got 15 minutes, so I want short questions, short questions and, if I may also say, quite brief answers, if possible, please, minister. Marie Todd followed by Brian Whittle. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I welcome the boldness and ambition in this statement. Environmental factors may play a role in determining both nutrition and physical activity. Can the minister expand on how the Scottish Government intends to work to change the obesogenic environment in order to change behaviours? Again, I recognise the real interest that Marie Todd has expressed in her role within the committee and also in the parliamentary chamber on the issue. We have set out a number of actions that we want to take forward within the strategy to challenge and change that obesogenic environment that is so, unfortunately, conducive to obesity. That is why we have the actions to restrict the price promotions on food and drink products, on high-fat, salt and sugar foods, our action to extend current restriction on broadcast and non-broadcast advertising of junk food to reduce exposure, especially of children to those foods. Also, the plans that we have to develop an out-of-home strategy, which will include action on better labelling, calorie caps and portion control. We want to make sure that we are in a position to support our SMEs to reformulate to increase the range of healthier options available. All of that, a package of measures will, I hope, go a long way towards changing that obesity-genic culture. I also welcome the statement from the minister, as she has highlighted, obesity is linked to many other complications and conditions. Driving behavioural change will be crucial in any successful obesity strategy, and that will be most effective, if I feel, in the younger age group. I can ask the minister what focus the consultation will have in the early intervention in terms of our relationship with food and access to physical activity irrespective of background or personal circumstance, and will my only attrition be a— No, I am sorry. One question. You have a really good question as well. Thank you. Thank Brian Whittle. Again, in the spirit of recognising that there is cross-party support for some of the approaches that we are taking forward, I recognise his keen interest in that. The early intervention will absolutely be the focus of what we do here. We do not want to wait until a problem presents itself before we effectively tackle it, but early intervention cannot just be associated with action in the early years. Early years is a big part of the strategy ideas that we have put forward, and that will be around making sure that we use opportunities around the expansion of childcare, the fact that we have a range of different things going on around looking at what the food that is given to children when they are in a school setting, making sure that we use the opportunities in the classroom to instill good habits early on. Early intervention must not just be about early years, and so there is a range of measures with preventing being the hallmark of our approach. Obesity used to be a condition of the wealthy, but it is now a condition of the poor. What has been done to address the key issue contributing to obesity, namely poverty and food poverty? There are a range of actions. My colleague Angela Constance has set out a number of different actions that she and her colleagues, Jean Freeman, on how we create a fairer country, making sure that the powers that are coming to this Parliament are delivered, the social security benefits are delivered in a fair and equitable way, with dignity at the hallmark of their approach, and making sure that we tackle child poverty in a range of other things, to ensure that we create the challenge that inequalities that too often persist, and recognising that obesity is one of the things that has most impact in our most vulnerable communities. There is a range of things. Going back to what Miles Briggs says, this is not just about me taking forward a strategy on my own. This has got cross-portfolio interests right across government to make sure that we have a whole-country approach to tackling this problem. Can the minister outline how the Scottish Government's obesity plan will link with curriculum for excellence, and does she agree that the plan offers an opportunity for schools in terms of ensuring the health and wellbeing of their pupils? In that respect, I should also declare an interest as the education below. Thank you curriculum for excellence, as Jenny Gilruth provides us with opportunities to ensure that pupils would develop a full understanding of food issues in their widest sense. For example, learning how to cook, food choices and influences of advertising and culture. Our proposals and the strategy will look to ensure that such work begins in those important early years, and with parents, and continues through preschool facilities, ensuring a national natural progression of advice and engagement. It is important that we also recognise that that work does not stop just outside of primary school and that we need to work hard to target and support adolescents. If we intervene early in the early years, that work could potentially unravel if we do not have the support for our adolescents when they emerge into their own adulthood. We need to make sure that there is age-appropriate advice and support there at every part of a young person's life journey. Alison Johnstone, Gail Ross. Thank you. Along with cancer research in Obesity Action Scotland, Greens firmly support restricting price promotions. I hope that the consultation is about how we restrict them, rather than if we restrict them. How will the strategy make healthier food more affordable, and how will it support producers of that healthy food directly? There is no intention to shy away from the big things that we need to do, particularly around restricting marketing and the promotions of foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt. There is absolutely opportunity for Alison Johnstone to contribute over the lifetime of this consultation to make sure that that is a message that we hear loudly and clearly to continue with the determination that we have. I will put on record that we intend to work and continue to work with industry on that, particularly with our small and medium-sized enterprises around the reformulation and the things that they need to do to adapt. That is why we set out £200,000 to support small and medium enterprises to respond to the challenges that they will face. Will the Scottish Government agree with me that all health boards and local authorities should develop strategies and performance indicators that strive to reduce obesity in children? We would certainly encourage the use of the health visiting pathway, for instance, and with the opportunities that it presents to ensure greater measurement for children and its own indicators. We would encourage local authorities to use that information to take action in partnership with others. Furthermore, our intention is also to maintain and expand existing child healthy weight work that is happening right across the country. I recognise the point that Gil Ross makes, and we absolutely want to see and expect our boards and our authorities to make and take forward appropriate work. Does the minister agree that physical activity in early years has to be more than just the provision of the daily mile in our schools? In recent years, there has been a quiet erosion of unstructured sessional activity for young people in our community. Will the minister commit to putting increased access to youth work and play at the heart of the obesity strategy? There is absolutely a real progression from children in the early years, the co-ordination skills, the ability to throw and catch and all those things that they learn from play. That is why the play strategy was so important, because it gave the seriousness that play required to ensure that children had the best start in life. That allows young people, particularly those whom we see from Judy Murray, who played simple games with her children and looked at where that led to her children. It puts the firm to foundations for young people to then proceed if they want to into elite sport, but I also hope to instill good habits to be active, enjoy their childhood and to be active and enjoy sport later on. Tom Arthur, follow by Annie Wells. Presiding Officer, Scotland has a thriving food and drink sector, and with FDF Scotland estimating that 97 per cent of that sector is composed of micro to medium-sized businesses. Can the minister outline what support will be provided to SMEs to enable them to reformulate their products to support the delivery of the Scottish Government's ambition? Absolutely. That is why we set out in the consultation document that we would set up a fund of £200,000 to help support those small medium enterprises that will require perhaps a bit of support around responding to the strategy that we take forward. That will not only be a financial offering, but there will be advice there and support in kind from, for instance, our agency Food Standards Scotland that will provide the expertise and knowledge to support those businesses in that transition. Financial and support and advice in kind will also be crucial to support our very important SMEs that are the lifeblood of our economies across the country. Annie Wells, follow by Clare Haughey. What plans does the Government have for health checks for 14 or 15-year-olds having scrapped them during their time in office? How will the strategy help address diet activity and healthy weight for older Scots? I have set out certainly a lot of detail in the consultation document around the proposals that we take forward for type 2 diabetes, which I think will really positively impact on the age group that Annie Wells speaks about. There are a range of issues. It is important to recognise that, unlike the UK Government's strategy that is just focused on children, the whole population is a battle for the whole population. It is designed to try to shift at every age and stage that this will be impactful for everybody across the country should they require support. I see her shaking her head. That is the fact. That approach is very different to the one that the UK Government took forward. What would be helpful would be if the Conservative Party applied the same pressure to their own colleagues down south to get them to stop having shine away from not going forward with a 9 p.m. watershed to ban junk food advertising for our most vulnerable people in society, our children? It plays a significant role in the development of type 2 diabetes, among other conditions. Can the minister outline what steps will be taken to assist those who are most at risk of developing type 2 diabetes? The diabetes prevention framework, which has been developed by an expert group, complements our strategy proposals and is considering such identification of high-risk groups, supports early diagnosis and the important question of referral pathways to treatment, education and lifestyle management. It is a fundamental pillar of our whole approach around how we effectively prevent the escalation of type 2 diabetes across the country. That concludes questions. I will have a short pause while the front bench has changed before we move on to the next item of business.