Health improvement outcomes in Early Years are a key priority for all of us and strongly supported by the Scottish Government through a range of policies and actions. Over the last two years the Scottish government and a variety of organisations including the community and voluntary sector have been developing a framework to improve maternal and infant nutrition. The recently published draft framework is aimed at a variety of organisations with a role in improving maternal and infant nutrition. The framework recognises that many organisations, primarily and including the NHS, local authorities and the community and voluntary sector have the most opportunity to influence behaviour change.

The Scottish Government is keen to hear any comments on the draft framework and ask that any comments are forwarded strictly within the deadline which is Friday 29 October to Kevin.mcardle@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Two further reports have been published by NHS Health Scotland to complement the draft framework:

1. What is known about maternal and infant nutrition in Scotland?

The report outlines routine data sources used to inform the Scottish Government’s development of the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Framework. The report, a web-only publication, summary briefing and press release are available at https://www.scotpho.org.uk

2. Rationales for the Action Plan activities in the Draft Framework

This report is intended to support the Maternal and Infant Nutrition action plan to explain how the group tasked with developing the draft framework decided what to include in the package of activities set out in it. Details of evidence and other considerations that informed their decision-making process are also included in it. The report is available at www.healthscotland.com/uploads/documents/13869-ImprovingMaternalAndInfantNutrition_FrameworkForAction.pdf