Foods that would be subject to restrictions
1. Which food categories should foods promotion restrictions target?
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Option 1: Discretionary food categories
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Option 2: Discretionary foods + ice cream and dairy desserts
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Option 3: Categories that are of most concern to childhood obesity
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Option 4: All categories included in the UK-wide reformulation programmes
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Don’t know
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Other – please specify
Please explain your answer
In considering the potential impact on hospitality and the out of home sector, it is hard to see how restrictions on promotions would not damage business. For example restrictions on promotion of pastries in coffee shops would be detrimental given that beyond coffee these are often the few items they sell. Therefore, there should be consideration of an exemption to treat these businesses as specialist in the same way as sweet shops and chocolatiers.
2. Should nutrient profiling be used within all targeted food categories to identify non-HFSS foods?
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Yes
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No
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Don't know
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Other - please specify
Price promotions
4. What are your views on the proposal to include the following within the scope of multi-buy restrictions?
| Extra free? Agree Radio button: Not checked Agree | Extra free? Disagree Radio button: Checked Disagree | Extra free? Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Meal deals? Agree Radio button: Not checked Agree | Meal deals? Disagree Radio button: Checked Disagree | Meal deals? Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
Please explain your answer
At the time of a cost of living crisis consumers will not want to see their options to save some money restricted. We are already seeing consumer behavior shift, with less spend on discretionary items like shop bought sandwiches and takeaways. For businesses to survive it is vital that they be able to continue to look after their customers by offering deals or extras which are in demand more than ever from consumers.
5. What are your views on the proposal to restrict unlimited refills for a fixed charge on targeted soft drinks with added sugar?
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Agree
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Disagree
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Don't know
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Other - please specify
Please explain your answer
Many businesses offering this option have already to moved to sugar free versions of popular drinks so are meeting demands of customers.
6. Should other targeted foods be included in restrictions on unlimited amounts for a fixed charge?
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Yes
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No
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Don’t know
7. What are your views on the proposal to restrict temporary price reductions (TPRs)?
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Agree
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Disagree
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Don’t know
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Other – please specify
Please explain your answer
Consumers are looking for deals and cost effective ways to still enjoy eating out, or having a take away at home. It is important that hospitality businesses be able to offer a service and products at a price that suits their customers at this economically difficult time.
8. Are there any other forms of price promotion that should be within scope of this policy?
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Yes
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No
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Don’t know
Location and other non-price promotions
11. If included, should the location of targeted foods online be restricted on:
| Home page Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Home page No Radio button: Checked No | Home page Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Favourite products page Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Favourite products page No Radio button: Checked No | Favourite products page Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Pop-ups, and similar pages not intentionally opened by the user Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Pop-ups, and similar pages not intentionally opened by the user No Radio button: Checked No | Pop-ups, and similar pages not intentionally opened by the user Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Shopping basket Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Shopping basket No Radio button: Checked No | Shopping basket Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Checkout page Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Checkout page No Radio button: Checked No | Checkout page Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
Please explain your answers
On terms of hospitality businesses, their websites are a sales tool and as consumers do not always search through much content it is important that businesses be able to bring products to the attention of consumers.
12. Should any other online locations be included in restrictions?
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Yes (please specify)
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No
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Don't know
Places that would be subject to restrictions
14. Which places, where targeted foods are sold to the public, should promotions restrictions apply to:
| Retail Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Retail No Radio button: Not checked No | Retail Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Out of home Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Out of home No Radio button: Checked No | Out of home Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Wholesale (where sales are also made to the public) Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Wholesale (where sales are also made to the public) No Radio button: Not checked No | Wholesale (where sales are also made to the public) Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Other outlets Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Other outlets No Radio button: Not checked No | Other outlets Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
Exemptions to restrictions
17. Do you agree with our proposal to exempt specialist businesses that mainly sell one type of food product category, such as chocolatiers and sweet shops, from location restrictions?
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Yes
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No
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Don't know
Please explain your answer
There is a need to look at widening this as there are many hospitality businesses eg. coffee shops and sales of pastries, which should be included in this exemption as they too specialise in selling one type of product.
18. If exemptions are extended beyond our proposal to exempt specialist businesses that mainly sell one type of food product category, should exemptions be applied on the basis of:
| Number of employees Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Number of employees No Radio button: Checked No | Number of employees Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Floor space Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Floor space No Radio button: Checked No | Floor space Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Other (please specify) Yes Radio button: Checked Yes | Other (please specify) No Radio button: Not checked No | Other (please specify) Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| None Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | None No Radio button: Not checked No | None Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
| Don't know Yes Radio button: Not checked Yes | Don't know No Radio button: Not checked No | Don't know Don't know Radio button: Not checked Don't know |
Please explain your answer
This should be a straightforward exemption based on the range of products that are sold. Hospitality businesses focused on selling one type of product - pastries, pizza, fish and chips and so on should be exempt as customers are ordering based on having made the decision to purchase those products.
Enforcement and implementation
22. Do you agree with the proposal that local authorities are best placed to enforce the policy?
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Yes
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No
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Other - please specify who
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Don't know
Please explain your answer.
Hospitality businesses already have good relations with local authority teams and any enforcement of regulations should be light touch.
24. What do you think would be an appropriate lead-in time to allow preparation for enforcement and implementation of the policy?
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6 months
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12 months
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18 months
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24 months
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Other – please specify
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Don’t know
Please explain your answer.
Businesses will need as much as time as possible to prepare for any changes and to understand their obligations. There is already a great deal of regulation in this area coming towards our businesses e.g. calorie labelling, so this all needs to be considered in the context of timescales for any introduction of a policy that will impact the out of home sector.
25. Are there any further considerations, for example as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, EU exit or rise in cost of living, that need to be taken into account in relation to enforcement?
Please explain your answer
As already highlighted, it seems a very odd time for the Scottish Government to be limiting choice and opportunities for consumers to save money. The sort of restrictions envisaged will hit households with families and those on lower incomes the hardest.
Legislative framework
26. Do you agree that Scottish Ministers should be able to make provision in secondary legislation, following consultation, to regulate in relation to specified less healthy food and drink and to arrange for enforcement (including the setting of offences and the issuing of compliance notices and fixed penalty notices)?
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Yes
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No
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Don't know
Please explain your answer.
We would favour a light touch approach to this and would encourage the Scottish Government to work with businesses to find best practice. Many businesses have already made changes to the ways they promote certain products and have made changes to recipes to remove or reduce sugar and fats. This cooperative approach is likely to be more conducive to achieving the results the Scottish Government is looking for.
About you
What is your name?
Name
Leon Thompson
Are you responding as an individual or an organisation?
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Individual
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Organisation
What is your organisation?
Organisation
UKHospitality Scotland