Seòmar agus comataidhean

At the start of the meeting, I spoke about it not being a case of ticking off commitments, saying that we have solved one issue and then moving on to the next one. A lot of the programmes are on-going and deal with problems that we cannot solve overnight.

We must also bear in mind the significant period of challenges that we have faced. We have had Brexit and a pandemic, which, as I said, meant that we tended to pivot our focus—quite rightly—towards our response to those issues. To frame it in that way does a disservice to all the people who have been involved in developing the projects and driving them forward.

I thank the convener for inviting me to discuss the Scottish Government’s third annual report on our delivery of the national islands plan. As in previous years, the report summarises the progress that has been made on each of the commitments in the national islands plan and it provides the details of projects and any relevant resource spend. It also provides me with the opportunity to put on record my thanks to local authorities, our island stakeholders, community groups, individuals and businesses for the support that they have given during the past year. Their continued input and collaboration is key to our delivery of the national islands plan.

I will take a moment to acknowledge the work commitment of the Government’s islands team over the past year. Some of the team are islanders or live on islands, so their involvement gives the Government a great source of real-life experience, knowledge and expertise on the issues that islanders face.

Our island communities still face many challenges across the board, which have only been amplified by the likes of Covid-19 and the current cost crisis. Sadly, all that we warned would happen with Brexit is happening, and the long-term harm to the wellbeing of our islands cannot be overestimated.

The national islands plan continues to provide the Scottish Government with a framework for improving the lives of the people on our islands, and I am really pleased to see continued progress on the plan’s 13 strategic objectives as outlined in the annual report. I will provide a couple of quick examples to demonstrate the breadth of the work that has been undertaken. First, we have delivered the £4.45 million islands programme across all six island local authorities, to enable us to work together to support critical projects and to help to make our islands even better places to live, study, work and raise a family. Additionally, the £1.4 million islands cost crisis emergency fund was provided directly to island local authorities to support them in taking the urgent action needed to help households through the cost crisis.

Housing continued to be a key focus for our island communities in 2022. Our national islands plan commits us to improving access to homes for people looking to settle in or return to island communities, and, to deliver against that commitment, we have been developing a remote, rural and islands housing action plan, to ensure that we meet the housing needs in those areas and to help to retain people and attract others into communities.

Finally, our innovative carbon neutral islands project continues to support our mission to maximise the opportunities of the green economy for Scotland’s islands. We have been working really closely with communities on Cumbrae, Islay, Barra, Raasay, Hoy and Yell to support them in carrying out in-depth carbon audits, which, in turn, are providing input into the six community climate change action plans.

Drawing my remarks to a close, I note that we continue to progress delivery of the national islands plan. As is required by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, the plan will be fully reviewed in the current year to ensure that it remains fit for purpose, and I look forward to the committee’s input into the review process.

As I said, we have commissioned another national islands plan survey, which will help us build on that. We hope that it will be launched this summer, but I cannot say that it necessarily will be completed unless officials can give me that confirmation now. Because of the nature of some of the projects, the work is on-going, but I think that we have been making progress when we look from last year to this year. We will continue to make progress and build on that data as we move forward.

No, I have given the example of how we have changed an area on the back of an island communities impact assessment. We have to publish those impact assessments as well. As I say, there is a process in place if there is disagreement as to the information that is there or how the assessment has been undertaken, but we take the impact assessments seriously.

Also, if we or another public authority determine that an assessment should not be undertaken, that information has to be published, so we are aiming to be as transparent as possible in outlining how our island communities have been taken into consideration as we are developing various policies or strategies.

I am happy to outline that, but it is important to remember that all the commitments have either been fulfilled or are on-going. With some of the commitments, it will not simply be a case of ticking them off, because they will be on-going. Some of the strategic objectives and projects that are under way—for example, those under objective 11, which relates to arts, heritage and culture—will be things that we will continue to do. Some of the commitments in relation to that area and to others will be on-going instead of being completely fulfilled.

As for progress from last year, we have fulfilled an additional five commitments. Some key areas of progress can be found, for example, under strategic objective 12 and the commitments that we have set out on the young islanders network. I was happy to be able to launch that network last summer, in Orkney, and we have seen its development. It has been great to see the young islanders joining and featuring in our national islands plan delivery group. As part of that, they also feature on the islands programme investment panel. It has been really great to see the development of that network and how it has continued to grow and increase its engagement.

Another commitment that we have fulfilled is on the islands passport, which has been launched and which the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership is continuing to monitor. There are also a few commitments in relation to national planning framework 4, which is now being implemented. The commitments that we have made in the national islands plan in recognition of our island communities have been recognised in that framework, too.

We should also not forget the islands programme itself. I was proud to announce the 13 projects that had been successful in the programme funding round that was launched earlier this year. I think that you can see from the commitments that we have set out and the implementation route map that goes alongside them that an awful lot of work is going on, but we have fulfilled some commitments, based on where we were last year.

I am happy to take any feedback on that. As you say, and as we have also highlighted today, we have already reviewed the guidance on the basis of feedback about how we undertake the assessments. We are constantly trying to make improvements wherever we can.

I am confident that we will continue to make progress. As I said, the progress that we have made during the past year can be seen, and the work is continuing.

We can see that from some of the commitments in the plan. A lot of the outcomes will be on-going, because we want to see continued improvement. I do not think that you would like it if I came to the committee and outlined that we have ticked a box, so we can move on and focus on something else. The review of the national islands plan—which I spoke about—is also important, because we have to ensure that the objectives in the plan still meet the needs of our island communities and that they reflect the priorities that island communities want us to focus on.

If you look across the board at the full suite of objectives, you will see that we are continuing to work on them. For example, a number of threads of work are on-going on strategic objective 1, which is on population. We are working on the talent attraction and migration service, and we are continuing to work on the addressing depopulation action plan, which is a key commitment. We are continuing to work, and we are trying—where we can, and wherever possible—to improve outcomes for our island communities.

That is really important. We want to make sure that that voice is featured strongly as we move through the implementation of the plan and in the actions that we have set out. That is where the work is.

A couple of different bodies help us with the implementation of the plan and its monitoring. We have the islands strategic group, which the local authorities sit on; its next meeting is coming up shortly. We also have the national islands plan delivery group, and that is where you really see that engagement. A number of bodies are represented in that group, including Highlands and Island Enterprise, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Scottish Islands Federation and the CalMac community board. As I mentioned earlier, representatives from the young islanders network are in it as well. The group has been convened in part to help us look at issues as they emerge; for example, it has had meetings to discuss the cost of living crisis. The group has been really helpful in getting that feedback, having those conversations, and, as you say, making sure that we have that voice feeding into the process. Officials might want to give more information on the islands plan delivery group in particular.

If there are particular issues there, I am more than happy to follow them up with you after the meeting, or directly with the committee.

ICIAs are a mechanism that we must use in developing policies, but they are not the only mechanism by which we engage with communities. We have highlighted some of the other examples. We have the national islands plan delivery group and we have the strategic group, where we engage with councils. There is also the engagement that Francesco Sindico talked about with various island stakeholders.

I would not want anybody to think that ICIAs are the only mechanism by which they can make their views on a policy known. Obviously, we want to consult and engage with communities as much as we can in the course of policy development. While some of the bodies have a particular role, we also have informal engagement with our stakeholders and with communities. ICIAs are by no means the only mechanism by which they can have a say or have influence.