Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022

Application of public bodies legislation

Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000

74. Paragraph 21(1) of the schedule adds the Scottish Food Commission to the list of devolved public bodies in schedule 3 of the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 (“the Ethical Standards Act”). This means that the Scottish Food Commission will need to:

• have a code of conduct for its members, whose compliance with the code will be policed by the Standards Commission for Scotland (see sections 3 and 9 of the Ethical Standards Act), and

• maintain a public register of its members’ interests (see section 7 of the Ethical Standards Act).

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

75. Paragraph 21(2) of the schedule adds the Scottish Food Commission to the list of Scottish public authorities in schedule 1 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”). This means that the Commission will be subject to the requirements that Act places on public bodies, including requirements to provide certain information to the public on request and to have in place a scheme for the pro-active publication of information it holds.

76. Being a public authority within the meaning of FOISA also makes the Commission a “Scottish public authority” to which the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 apply.

77. In addition, as a public authority within the meaning of FOISA, the Commission is a “public authority” or “public body” for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation by virtue of section 7 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (subject to the Secretary of State not making regulations under that section to remove its “public authority” status). The General Data Protection Regulation (also commonly referred to by the acronym “GDPR”) is Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. There are particular rules applied to bodies classified as “public authorities” (over and above those applied to all data processors) in the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. An analysis of those rules is beyond the scope of these Notes.

78. Further, being a public authority within the meaning of FOISA makes the Commission subject to the duties imposed by section 44 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 and, as such, liable to monitoring and investigation under Part 4 of that Act.

Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc. (Scotland) Act 2003

79. Paragraph 21(3) of the schedule adds the Commission to the list of specified authorities in schedule 2 of the Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 (the “2003 Act”). This means that the Scottish Ministers, when appointing the Commission’s members, will need (under section 2 of the 2003 Act) to comply with the code of practice on public appointments produced by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.

Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010

80. Paragraph 21(4) of the schedule adds the Commission to the list of bodies in schedule 8 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”). This means that the Commission will be subject to the duties to report after each financial year on:

• expenditure (see section 31 of the 2010 Act), and

• the steps it has taken to promote and increase sustainable growth and improve its efficiency, effectiveness and economy (see section 32 of the 2010 Act).

Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011

81. Paragraph 21(5) of the schedule adds the Commission to the schedule of the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 and thereby makes it subject to the duties created by that Act to produce, implement and keep under review a records management plan.

Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014

82. Paragraph 21(6) of the schedule makes the Commission subject to the procurement rules applicable to contracting authorities in the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.