Growing Scottish food and drink manufacturing
Growing Scottish food and drink manufacturing
Food and drink manufacturing provides jobs and economic growth in communities all over Scotland. Our members support food security across the country and put Scotland’s food and drink sector on the map, exporting iconic brands and produce the world over.
We need to ensure Scotland has an evidence-based regulatory environment supporting investment and growth, that businesses have the people and skills that they need, and that our industry is supported on its journey to net zero.
Our manifesto outlines the 3 priorities and how we want to work with Scottish government to support the future success of Scotland’s vital food and drink manufacturing industry.
A consistent policy environment
- Working closely with other UK nations on developing regulation related to food and drink. Minimising divergence reduces cost and complexity for businesses and consumers.
- Coordinating food policy across Scottish Government departments and public sector agencies, ensuring business engagement as early as possible and throughout the process. Consistent, informed and long-term policy ensures business confidence.
Helping businesses to grow
- Ensuring multiyear ring-fenced grants are available for food and drink businesses to support them to invest in projects that will make their processes and facilities more efficient, productive and sustainable.
- Continuing to support the Scottish Food & Drink Partnership – a unique collaboration between industry organisations from across the food supply chain, Scottish Government and its agencies.
Ensuring a healthier, safer food system
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Continuing to support and work as a vital partner in our Reformulation for Health Programme to ensure Scottish food and drink manufacturers are helped to continue to make their products healthier.
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Helping industry continue to provide healthy, safe food that builds consumer trust based on a strong food safety system. This includes supporting Food Standards Scotland on a pragmatic redesign of our food law delivery and assurance framework.
- Reforming and restructuring the skills delivery model in Scotland. This will simplify the funding and delivery landscape to reduce fragmentation and complication and improve alignment with the needs of the labour market and businesses.
- Ensuring meaningful engagement is maintained with the industry, including food and drink manufacturers, when developing and implementing skills policies. This will help shape policies which are deliverable, effective and responsive to the changing needs of businesses.
- Reintroducing targeted employer support to aid modular, work- based training and career progression across all ages and skill levels. This will help develop a highly skilled workforce that is able to keep pace with changing technology, as well as allowing businesses to adapt more easily.
- Working with Westminster on the creation of the Growth and Skills Levy, allowing for a clear line of funding that is consistent across UK nations. This will enable food and drink manufacturers to invest Levy funds in training that can address skills needs and improve productivity.
- Ensuring public sector support prioritises investment in process efficiency rather than an increase in headcount. This will help deliver an increase in productivity and higher paid jobs.
Supporting and engaging with our Net Zero Programme
- Using our research with businesses to understand business barriers to developing net zero transition plans.
- Supporting the development and implementation of a national food and drink climate transition plan.
- Supporting research on emissions in the food and drink sector in Scotland, tracking a headline figure for carbon emissions, and how to approach identifying sectoral emissions.
Supporting increased climate change innovation in the sector
- Driving widespread adoption of net zero solutions delivered through targeted business support that meets the needs of SMEs.
Ring-fencing Extended Producer Responsibility Funds
- Ensuring Extended Producer Responsibility funds are ring-fenced for recycling and waste improvement by local authorities, and including the Producer Responsibility Organisation and the Deposit Management Organisation in the co-design of the statutory Code of Practice for household waste recycling in Scotland.
Find out more
Discover more about FDF Scotland, meet the team and learn how we work with our member companies.
