Active Consultations

Food Standards Scotland have launched a Consultation on proposals to improve the Out of Home food environment in Scotland. This consultation covers all the food and drink eaten outside the home. This includes the food we eat ‘on the go’ such as on the way to work, school or home, at lunch or snack times or when commuting.

Included are:

Home Office statisticians have launched a consultation on the ‘Alcohol and late night refreshment licensing’ statistical releases. This consultation is being run to gather insight and seek your views on the presentation and timing of the Government Statistical Service’s ‘Alcohol and late night refreshment licensing’ statistics and specifically why you use the data, what information is used, how frequently you use the information and any concerns over quality.

The government is committed to simplifying and speeding up the planning system, to support the high street, make effective use of land and deliver more homes.

Building on existing planning reforms, the government is consulting on proposals that will allow greater change of use to support high streets to adapt and diversify, support extending existing buildings upwards to create additional homes, and speed up the delivery of new homes.

The consultation includes separate proposals in respect of:

The purpose of this consultation is to gather views from stakeholders on the proposals to ban the distribution and/or sale of plastic straws, plastic - stemmed cotton buds and plastic drink stirrers in England. The proposed ban aims to further protect the environment from plastic pollution.

This inquiry looks at consumers’ access to financial services and whether certain groups of consumers are excluded, both in terms of obtaining a basic level of service from financial services providers as well as access to products including insurance. The inquiry will have a particular focus on the provision of financial products and services for vulnerable consumers.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has opened a consultation seeking ethnicity pay reporting by employers.

It sets out options and asks questions on:

• What ethnicity pay information should be reported by employers to allow for meaningful action
• Who should be expected to report
• Next steps

The objective of the consultation is to enable government and employers to move forward in a consistent and transparent way. Consultation responses will inform future government policy on ethnicity pay reporting.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on restrictions on the promotion and marketing of “discretionary foods” such as cakes, confectionery and savoury snacks. The consultation proposes that restrictions would be introduced for the location of products in-store, the promotion of value, shelf-edge displays and signage, upselling, and having branded chillers and floor display units. The consultation also proposes to restrict multi-buy price promotions, however, price marked packs would still be allowed.

Following the decision to implement a minimum unit price for alcohol in Wales, the Welsh Government are consulting on a proposed minimum unit price of 50p.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on whether legislation is required to clarify the position for certain wholesalers as regards to compliance with Minimum Unit Pricing.