Scottish Ministers have revoked the order that would have commenced Section 6 of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 next week. The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 (Commencement No. 4) Revocation Regulations 2025 (S.S.I. 2025/395) were made on 11 December, laid on 12 December and will come into force on 15 December, cancelling the planned start date of 16 December. The earlier Commencement No. 4 Regulations (S.S.I. 2025/291) had appointed that day for Section 6 to begin.
Section 6-titled “Effect of plan”-would place a duty on Scottish Ministers, when exercising a specified function or a function within a specified description, to have regard to the national Good Food Nation Plan. With the revocation, that statutory duty will not take effect on 16 December and Section 6 remains prospective.
The now‑revoked Commencement No. 4 Regulations were signed on 23 October and set 16 December 2025 as the appointed day for Section 6. They also recorded the staged commencement of other parts of the 2022 Act, including Sections 1, 2, 4, 5 and 9 from 30 June 2023, and Sections 3, 7 and 8 from 30 June 2024, with further provisions started in 2025. Those earlier commencements are unaffected by the revocation.
In practice, the change pauses the imposition of the ‘have regard’ duty on ministerial functions until a new commencement date is set. Separate regulations identifying which ministerial functions fall within scope-the Good Food Nation (Specified Functions and Descriptions) (Scottish Ministers) Regulations 2025-have been under parliamentary scrutiny, including evidence from Food Standards Scotland to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee in November.
The national Good Food Nation Plan itself has progressed through Parliament this year. Committees note the draft plan was laid on 27 June 2025, with the expectation that a final plan would be published before 31 December 2025. The Scottish Government’s plan page confirms the first national plan and supporting material. The revocation does not prevent publication; it only delays the legal effect that Section 6 would confer.
Duties on local authorities and health boards to publish their own Good Food Nation plans sit in Sections 10 to 18 of the Act. Section 10 requires each “relevant authority” to publish a plan within 12 months of commencement of that section, while Section 15 will oblige those authorities to have regard to their plan when exercising specified functions. The Scottish Government’s March 2025 guide makes clear that the provisions for relevant authorities were not yet commenced at that time.
Some public bodies are preparing in anticipation. For example, Dumfries and Galloway Council agreed in late October to begin developing a regional Good Food Nation Plan with NHS Dumfries and Galloway, working to the statutory model even before all duties are switched on. The revocation does not prevent such preparatory work but means statutory deadlines tied to commencement are not yet running.
For policy teams and compliance leads, the immediate effect is administrative rather than operational. Any internal processes scheduled to rely on Section 6 from 16 December-such as decision templates noting the national plan as a statutory consideration-should be updated to reflect that the ‘have regard’ duty is not yet in force for ministers. Monitoring should continue on the specified‑functions regulations and any replacement commencement order.
Next steps are straightforward to track. A fresh commencement instrument will be needed to start Section 6. Until then, the national plan may still guide decisions as a policy document, but without the statutory duty attached to ministerial functions. Earlier commencements recorded in Commencement No. 2 and No. 3 remain in effect, as noted in the explanatory material to S.S.I. 2025/291.