Food safety and animal and plant health and welfare is dependent on vigilance and good biosecurity, which helps to prevent outbreaks of notifiable, reportable or non-notifiable diseases both in terms of prevention and, should a disease reach Scotland, in terms of quickly bringing the situation under control.
Notifiable diseases are diseases named in section 88 of the Animal Health Act 1981 or an Order made under that Act.
Part 1 of the Act makes provision in relation to animal health including powers to prevent the spread of diseases.
Part 2 of the Act makes provisions in relation to animal welfare through the consolidation and modernisation of animal welfare legislation for Scotland.
Key practices are:
Further guidance on Animal health and disease control including guidance on biosecurity practices is available from the Scottish Government website.
The Act provides a series of measures which are designed to conserve biodiversity and to protect and enhance the biological and geological natural heritage of Scotland, including a general duty on public bodies to further biodiversity in exercising their functions.
The Plant Health (Official Controls and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 set out detailed requirements for many plant species and plant pests and diseases entering or moving within the UK.
The Act contains the principal legislation dealing with non-native species in Scotland. It makes it illegal to release or allow to escape from captivity any animal to a place out with its native range. It also makes it illegal to plant, or otherwise cause to grow, any plant in the wild at a place out with its native range. However, there are exemptions for forest trees and certain wildflower species. The Act also creates a number of offences relating to the keeping and sale of certain species of special concern.
The relevant National Outcomes and Indicators within the National Performance Framework focus our activity around ‘creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increased wellbeing, and sustainable and inclusive economic growth’. The relevant National Outcomes and Indicators for biosecurity include:
Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to sign up to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which have been developed to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The relevant SDGs for biosecurity include:
3 – Good health and well-being
6 – Clean Water
8 – Decent work and economic growth
9. – Industry, innovation, and infrastructure
13 – Climate Action
14 – Life below Water
15 – Life on Land
A focus on biosecurity should form part of a public sector organisation’s sustainability strategy, environmental or biodiversity strategy. Any Biosecurity objectives and targets should also, wherever relevant, be incorporated in an organisation’s procurement strategy and annual procurement report.
The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the Act”) aims to make the best use of public money, helping public bodies to achieve Scotland’s overarching purpose. The Act places a Duty on a public body that, before it buys anything, to consider how it can improve the economic, social and environmental well-being in Scotland through its procurements, with a particular focus on reducing inequality, and act in a way to secure this. For example, through the appropriate use of the sustainability test (and its associated tool: the prioritisation methodology), and the application of relevant and proportionate contract requirements.
The Act also requires obligated organisations to develop a procurement strategy and report against its delivery at the end of each year, emphasising the importance of monitoring and reporting delivery of intended sustainable outcomes. This could include the protection and enhancement of biodiversity through biosecurity measures and appropriate related objectives and targets.
The public procurement regulations allow a contracting authority to exclude companies from tendering for public contracts for not meeting certain conditions, including breach of any obligations in the fields of environmental, social or employment law; and select the most suitable bidders based on technical ability and previous experience in relation to the subject matter of the contract. This is done through the Single Procurement Document (SPD).
It is important that when we have identified biosecurity risks or opportunities associated with the products or services we procure, that we understand the alternative options available to us. This will be achieved through for example completing life cycle impact mapping (LCIM), gathering market intelligence and good pre-procurement supplier engagement.
