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Development projects

Community Food and Health (Scotland)

On 20th November, the Scottish Community Diet Project became Community Food andHealth (Scotland).

Community Food and Health (Scotland)'s over-riding aim is to help improve Scotland's diet and health.

We do this by supporting work within low-income communities which improves access to and take-up of a healthy diet. We support both community initiatives and inter-agency partnership working.

We offer: a grants scheme for community initiatives; toolkits and guides for groups to use; information exchange and networking facilitation; development of partnership working models; and support action research and practice development.

The Scottish Community Diet Project was set up in October 1996 as a result of the recommendations contained in the Scottish Diet Action Plan published a few months earlier. We are funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department.

The project is based within the Scottish Consumer Council ,and is assisted by a Steering Group made up of a range of groups and agencies, which advises on the nature and direction of the work.

Website: www.communityfoodandhealth.org.uk

Scottish Accessible Information Forum (SAIF)

The Scottish Accessible Information Forum (SAIF) was set up to take forward the recommendations made by the Scottish Working Group on information Services for Disabled People and Carers in its final report Enabling Information (1995).

SAIF's remit is:

to develop and promote quality standards in information provision to disabled people and carers

to represent and promote the interests of disabled people in having access to information services

to promote communication between national and local information providers

to advise the Scottish Executive on policy relating to accessible information

to improve disabled people's access to information.

The Forum is made up of twenty one people representing providers of information and advice, as well as organisations of and for disabled people and carers. Over half of SAIF's members are disabled people or carers themselves.

SAIF is managed by the Scottish Consumer Council and is funded by the Scottish Executive.

Website: www.saifscotland.org.uk

Healthyliving Award

The Healthyliving Award is a national award for the food service and catering sector in Scotland. Funded by the Scottish Executive, the Healthyliving Award was launched in August 2006 and builds on the experience of the Scottish Healthy Choices Award. It was established to make it easier for people eating out to know where to go for healthier food, and to encourage the food service industry to provide healthier food on their menus. It is open to all workplaces, NHS outlets, further education establishments, family restaurants, sandwich shops and places where people eat regularly across Scotland *.

To achieve a Healthyliving Award applicants must make broad changes to the way food is prepared, for example, using healthier ingredients and cooking methods, provide and promote healthier menu choices and have an appropriate sales promotion and marketing strategy, which works alongside the general principals of the award.

*with the exception of schools and hospital patient food

Website: www.healthylivingaward.co.uk

Health Rights Information Scotland (HRIS)

This project, which is funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department, aims to produce nationally relevant patient information products focusing on patients’ rights, and to ensure that patients and members of the public, as well as NHS staff, are involved in this process. Key objectives include:

Improving the availability of information to patients about their rights.
Ensuring the accessibility of any information produced, in terms of format, language and style.
Working closely with information providers in NHS board areas.
Achieving a greater degree of consistency in the information provided by the NHS.
Reducing the burden of information production on NHS organisations by providing national information on topics which are consistent throughout Scotland.

Website: www.hris.org.uk