National Islands Plan: annual report 2024

Empowered Island Communities and Strong Local Partnerships

Strategic Objective 10 – Empower diverse communities and different places

Commitment 10.1 Take forward the Local Governance Review with COSLA in order to create a system of local democracy that will be inclusive and improve people’s lives.

Implementation Route Map 2024

• We remain committed to conclude the joint Local Governance Review (LGR) with COSLA and implement the findings through legislation where required. The LGR is a key part of our overall approach to Public Service Reform and to future relationship with local government and communities.
• The New Deal for Local Government and delivering a Visitor Levy and a Council Tax premium on second homes/long-term-empty properties all represent material changes which empower local government. We will continue to work with local government partners to explore further fiscal empowerments that support local communities, as exemplified by our commitment to develop and consult on proposals for a Cruise Ship Levy.
• The Scottish Government is continuing to work with island local authorities and health partners to develop Single Authority Models. Alternative local governance arrangements will strengthen and streamline local decision-making, and support a shift towards more preventative public services.

Delivering on the commitment made in our Programme for Government 2023 and in the Rural and Islands Housing Plan, we enabled local authorities to apply either a discount of up to 50% or a premium of up to 100% on Council Tax rates for second homes. We recognise that local areas differ and the impact of second homes across the country is disparate, and what may cause pressures in some communities could equally provide a benefit to others. This is why we believe that councils should decide how to achieve the right balance in the use of housing to meet local needs and to support thriving island communities.

Our approach puts councils front-and-centre in making decisions about the Council Tax treatment of second and empty Homes in their area. The Scottish Government and COSLA are working together through the Joint Working Group on Council Tax Reform to determine what further changes could be made. The group is reflecting on the introduction of the 100% Council Tax premium to inform any approach to increasing the premium above the 100% limit.

The Scottish Government has been engaging with local authorities, the cruise ship industry and other stakeholders to explore a potential cruise ship levy and develop more detailed proposals. We have held four Ministerial roundtable events, providing an opportunity for the Government to hear the views of industry, local government, and others. One of the four events was held on Orkney in September 2024, and we have welcomed further input from island authorities. The Scottish Government has now launched a public consultation on the potential cruise ship levy, to formally hear views and to consider further the impacts on business, local government, island communities and others.

We are making progress on delivering the overarching policy ambitions of the Local Governance Review through the Democracy Matters process as well as the development of Single Authority Models in three island and rural geographies.

Single Authority Models will streamline and strengthen local governance arrangements to improve outcomes and help ensure long-term financial sustainability. Meetings have been held with councils, Health Boards and Integration Joint Boards in the Western Isles, Orkney and Argyll and Bute to explore proposals for deeper integration of key services. This work will continue at pace through 2025 with all relevant partners.

We are building on the second phase of widespread Democracy Matters community engagement by developing models for community governance which deliver on the ambitions expressed in the process findings report. New decision-making models will help ensure the delivery of more joined up, efficient, and person-centred services at a community level as well as provide more opportunities for people to participate in the decisions that matter most to them.

Commitment 10.2 Support participatory processes aimed at providing island communities with a strong voice in the implementation of the Plan.

Implementation Route Map 2024

• The National Participatory Budgeting Strategy Group has devised the “Future of Participatory Budgeting in Scotland” framework to inform ongoing work on how participatory budgeting can be used as an innovative engagement tool to tackle issues concerning health and wellbeing, education, housing and climate justice.
• The Scottish Government continues to support COSLA’s Participatory Budgeting team, including in relation to the development and delivery of CONSUL, a free citizen participation software. CONSUL has been translated into Gaelic, enabling online community engagement processes in Gaelic.
• We will continue to fund the Scottish Community Development Centre to provide support and advice to communities, including on islands, on participatory processes.
• The development of a second National Islands Plan will be informed by consultation and engagement with island communities, local authorities and delivery partners to ensure the new Plan meets their needs and supports their ambitions. We will also work with the Young Islanders Network to ensure young people have an opportunity to influence and inform the content of the Plan.
• The implementation of the current and forthcoming Plans will be supported by the Islands Strategic Group, which was established to ensure greater involvement of relevant local authorities and councils in helping design solutions to the challenges islanders face.

We have continued to support Participatory Budgeting (PB) through the National PB Support Programme. This programme is delivered in partnership with local authorities, communities and third sector organisations, and supports PB across cross-cutting policy areas including health and wellbeing, climate change, and education.

We will continue to fund COSLA and the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) to provide resources, support and advice to local authorities and communities on PB processes.

As required by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, the National Island Plan underwent a full review at the end of 2023. The review was informed by a public consultation giving everyone with an interest in Scotland’s islands an opportunity to contribute and share their views on the Plan’s effectiveness. An i . Responding to the outcomes of the public consultation, Scottish Ministers have agreed that a new National Islands Plan is required and will be published in 2025. The Scottish Government’s Islands Team is leading on the development of the new Plan and has already undertaken extensive engagement with island communities, local authorities and delivery partners. Community engagements will continue over the coming months to ensure the new Plan addresses islanders’ concerns and ambitions. In early November 2024, Islands Team officials joined a residential event organised by the Young Islanders Network in Portree to deliver a series of thematic workshops aimed at informing the new Plan. The Young Islanders Network will continue to be consulted and updated as work on the Plan progresses.

The Islands Strategic Group has continued to meet regularly to allow Scottish Ministers and island local authorities to review strategic policy issues and explore opportunities to work in close partnership to improve outcomes for island communities. The minutes of all recent meetings of the Islands Strategic Group are available on the Scottish Government website (here).

Commitment 10.3 Explore ways to strengthen the voice of island communities whilst capturing the differences between islands in local and national decision-making.

Implementation Route Map 2024

• A review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 is currently underway and a report will be made available later in 2024. The review aims to identify opportunities to give local communities, including on islands, a greater say over how local public services are delivered, assets are used and resources are allocated.

Work on a review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, has now concluded. Three reports are currently being prepared and will be published in early 2025. These will present findings on Part 3 of the act (Participation Requests), Part 5 (Asset Transfers) and a Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 Finding and Update Report which includes a summary of Parts 3 and 5, an assessment of Part 2 (Community Planning) and an update on the other eight parts in the Act.

Commitment 10.4 Work with island communities and local authority partners in the development and introduction of a Transient Visitor Levy Bill.

Commitment Fulfilled.

This commitment was fulfilled in 2023. Please see the National Islands Plan Annual Report 2023 for further details.

Commitment 10.5 Explore ways in which to empower and support island communities to enhance their resilience by developing local initiatives and plans in partnership with Scotland’s Emergency Responder organisations.

Implementation Route Map 2024

• The Resilient Communities team will issue a survey to Community Councils that is designed to establish a baseline of Community Councils’ community resilience activity. The team will work with island stakeholders to ensure that the perspective of island communities is considered in designing future policy initiatives.

In partnership with the Improvement Service, the Civil Contingencies Division Resilient Communities Team issued a national survey to community councils in order to gain insights into the perspectives of communities in different areas including island area. responses to the survey are currently being analysed.

The team also delivered webinars for the Scottish Community Councils Network with community councils from around Scotland, and a tailored presentation to the Community Councils Islands Network to raise awareness of the survey, and of the resources that are available to support communities on the government’s Ready.scot website and to provide a space for community councils to share good practice with each other.

The Scottish Resilient Communities Conference in October 2024 was also delivered in a hybrid format in order to enable people who were unable to travel to participate online.

The Resilient Communities Team will continue to seek to improve lines of communication with island areas where there’s scope for more active engagement.

Commitment 10.6 Introduce regulations which enable island local authorities, in consultation with their communities, to request that Scottish Ministers promote legislation devolving a function to them, or that the Scottish Ministers transfer an additional function, duty or responsibility to them. These regulations acknowledge the uniqueness of each of our island communities and that one size does not always fit all.

Commitment Fulfilled.

This commitment was fulfilled in 2020. Please see the National Islands Plan Annual Report 2020 for further details.

Commitment 10.7 Ensure that policies and plans relating to the Scottish Crown Estate are appropriately island proofed and that any manager of a Scottish Crown Estate asset supports implementation of the National Islands Plan as appropriate.

Implementation Route Map 2024

• The Crown Estate Scotland Sponsorship Team will work with Crown Estate Scotland and potential new managers, on a case-by-case basis, to ensure that wider policies relating to the Scottish Crown Estate and that transfer and/or delegation proposals have completed an Island Communities Impact Assessment and take into account the National Islands Plan as appropriate.

Crown Estate Scotland are currently the sole manager of Scottish Crown Estate Assets. In discharging this role, Crown Estate Scotland ensures that policy and projects are tested through Island Communities Impact Assessments whenever appropriate.

Following an extension to the current Corporate Plan, Crown Estate Scotland are drafting their new 2026-2031 Corporate Plan and will continue to take into account the objectives of the current and forthcoming National Islands Plan as part of its development.

Commitment 10.8 Ensure that Gaelic speakers in island communities are encouraged and supported to represent themselves through the medium of Gaelic.

Implementation Route Map 2024

• Following the publication of the Scottish Government’s Gaelic Language Plan 2022-2027, we remain committed to providing more services through Gaelic and extending opportunities to use Gaelic in everyday situations and formal settings.
• Education Scotland published a revised Gaelic Language Plan for 2022-2027. This is part of HM Inspectors’ five-year strategy for Gaelic Education. As part of this, HM Inspectors will continue to provide specialist evaluations for Gaelic Medium Education and islands contexts. We will also take forward new high-level aims to support Gaelic.

Under the Scottish Government’s Gaelic Language Plan 2022-2027, we remain committed to providing more services through Gaelic and extending opportunities to use Gaelic in everyday situations and formal settings. Consultation papers on topics which have particular interest in Gaelic-speaking island communities are offered in Gaelic with responses also encouraged in Gaelic.

Following this principle, the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Unit recently sponsored a Gaelic Climate Convention in South Uist. This was organised alongside Climate Hebrides using the Cnoc Soilleir centre. It ensured that the Government’s Just Transition policies were debated in an exclusively Gaelic forum.