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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 27 November 2024
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Displaying 1736 contributions

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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

Although £1 million has been allocated to the CNI project, as Francesco Sindico has said, it is by no means the only investment that is being made. We have the islands programme, but, when you look at other areas, there is spend across all other parts of Government that will have an impact, not to mention how the islands growth deal can contribute.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

We know that fuel poverty is a massive issue. Finding innovative ways to address some of the issues that we are facing was the subject of conversations that I had in Shetland last week. Our islands are at the forefront of innovation. Look at the energy that is produced and the fact that the islands are responsible for contributing it—yet our islands suffer the greatest rates of fuel poverty. Those issues are complex, because we do not have all the levers to fix them. However, the project allows us to look at how we can best tackle fuel poverty in communities. Although the committee’s discussion is focused on carbon neutrality, you will, no doubt, be aware of some of the other schemes on fuel poverty and the particular focus on islands in that regard.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

There is a list of bodies that are expected to undertake island communities impact assessments—they are set out in the schedule. There are 71 bodies listed there. I would be happy to send that information to the committee, if you would find that helpful.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

I will give a brief outline. I know that Francesco Sindico will be desperate to come in, as he is the project lead on carbon neutral islands.

The committee will be aware that, in January this year, we published a progress update report on where we are in relation to that. Francesco has already touched on the community development officers that we have working in each of the communities. The in-depth carbon audits have been undertaken, and I believe that the climate change action plans for each of those areas have now been completed but are still to be published. That is where we are at the moment, but I will hand over to Francesco, who can provide some more detail.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

I do not have that information to hand, and I do not know whether that is the case, but I am more than happy to follow up on that.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

That has been a really positive piece of work—we have developed it and taken it forward, and we have engaged closely with various stakeholders and local authorities on it. That was done on the back of the then Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, saying that he was willing to consider such a policy proposal. Both I and Neil Gray, who was the minister leading on migration at that point, wrote to the UK Government in September last year, but, as yet, we have not had any response.

However, we have had extensive engagement with both the UK Parliament and the Welsh Parliament, and with their committees. We have also engaged with other committees in the Scottish Parliament. The Migration Advisory Committee welcomed the proposal and said that it seemed like a very sensible way forward. It is frustrating, therefore, that we have not had direct feedback and engagement from the UK Government on the proposal. However, all other engagement has been really positive, and the pilot has been widely welcomed.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

No.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

We are demonstrating that. I categorically refute the suggestion that little progress has been made. We have 13 strategic objectives and more than 100 commitments. I do not think that what has been said is fair to all the teams that are doing work in those different areas.

On total spend and the number of staff, I do not have those figures to hand, but I am happy to supply them.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

I do not know whether you are asking for definitive figures. In relation to resource, we were on an emergency footing and—quite rightly—trying to deal with the immediate crises that we faced. It was really important that we did that work. As I said, we pivoted some resource to ensure that we could deal with that as best we could.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

National Islands Plan Annual Report 2022

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Mairi Gougeon

That is why what Francesco Sindico highlighted is so important. The challenges must be identified and a baseline picture must be built so that we have something to monitor against. I hope that you can understand that from what is set out in the work on that strategic objective, where you can see the five different projects that have been undertaken. None of them is quick or necessarily easy to do, but they ensure that we are continuing to progress that objective. The project on the existing data indicators framework is trying to see what existing indicators we can use to monitor the framework. All those projects are about ensuring that we are getting the baseline data that will help us to do this effectively.