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Food Standards Scotland (FSS) provides an annual training programme for Local Authority Food Enforcement Officers. This includes the following courses listed:

REHIS Advanced HACCP

Enforcement Sanctions

Training on the Scottish National database and Food Law Rating System

HACCP in Speciality cheesemaking

Shellfish Depuration

Food Microbiology

Predictive modelling and shelf life challenge testing

Official Control Verification methodology and practice

IFSP Counterfeit Spirits

TACCP (Threat Assessment and Critical Control Point,focuses on threats and aims to prevent malicious threats to food, such as sabotage, extortion, or terrorism.)

In addition FSS provides an annual training session for student Environmental Health officers.

Local Authorities regulate food labelling standards. The data FSS holds on food standards interventions indicates that there have been 1209 contravention letters, detention and seizure notices, advice letters and Compliance notices relating to food standards law from 2018 to end of January 2025. FSS does not hold breakdown data on the nature of these breaches.

Head Office staff:

Permanent: 151 (95.6%)
Temporary: 7 (4.4%)
Field staff:

Permanent: 117 (89.9%)
Temporary: 13 (10.1%)
Total:
Permanent: 268 (93.1%)
Temporary: 20 (6.9%)

The average length of time between the date of alleged commission of a criminal offence and the date of a final court verdict increased considerably as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions brought in to try to limit the spread of coronavirus.

This affected the prosecution of all types of offences, including speeding offences. Scottish Government investment has helped aid the recovery of the summary courts from the effects of the pandemic.

(a) The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of penalties issued for speeding offences by specific trunk road location or road number. This level of detail is not recorded in the Criminal Proceedings database.

(b) The latest available information on convictions is for the financial year 2022-23.

Number of people convicted for speeding offences (regardless of location), where main crime, by result, 2018-19 to 2022-23.

The Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGORR), like any other part of Scotland’s resilience system, conducts regular debriefs following activations, gathers feedback from stakeholders on its effectiveness, and works with partners to identify notable practice. This regular identification and implementation of lessons ensures the continuous improvement of the SGORR function. Numerous improvements have been implemented in the past 10 years, including a comprehensive review of standard operating procedures, the updating of technology, and initiatives to secure more strategic, regular engagement with partners, e.g. a meeting series held during the winter season to review collective preparedness for winter hazards.

It is not possible to separately identify which convictions for assault were specifically for assaults on nurses

The Scottish Government currently has no plans in place to implement mobile care units for rural areas across Scotland. It would be for NHS Boards to determine best use of available resources and implement this initiative locally, should they feel the service meets the needs of their local population.

FSS has integrated food crime and fraud awareness into its core communications strategy, using the following approaches:

Raising Visibility of the Scottish Food Crime Unit (SFCIU):

Promotion of the Food Crime Hotline and online reporting channels to encourage the public and businesses to report suspicious food activity.

Case studies and briefings to highlight real-world examples of food fraud.
Stakeholder engagement, including industry awareness sessions and political briefings.

Public Campaigns & Social Media Communications:

Targeted digital content to help consumers recognise fraudulent food products.
Messaging around how to spot and report food fraud, making information accessible and easy to act upon.

Collaboration with Industry & Enforcement Partners:

Working with retailers, local authorities, and law enforcement to increase intelligence-sharing and raise awareness of compliance obligations.
Development of the food crime profiling tool for businesses to assess risk and strengthen food supply chain integrity.

Incident Response & Consumer Protection:

Food crime incidents are managed through FSS’s incident framework and the incident comms plan, ensuring timely public updates and preventing misinformation. Cross-agency coordination with UK and international bodies to take swift action on food fraud cases affecting Scotland.

Through these targeted communication efforts, FSS ensures that both consumers and businesses understand the risks of food fraud, know how to identify it, and are empowered to report concerns effectively.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) advocate the UK wide reformulation programme, managed by the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities, which has voluntary targets for industry to reduce levels of sugar, salt and calories in commonly consumed foods. They regularly report on progress, with the most recent publication in 2024.

In Scotland, Scottish Government funds the Reformulation for Health Programme which is managed by Food and Drink Federation Scotland. Since 2019, the programme has support SMEs operating in Scotland to take steps to improve the nutritional content of their food, including reductions in fat, sugar and salt. Examples of the success of the programme can be found via this link. FSS supports the Reformulation for Health Programme, including as a Reformul8 Partner, and through provision of grant funding to support businesses to undertake reformulation.