National Islands Plan Survey: final report

1. Introduction

Scotland's National Islands Plan (2019) was developed following the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 and sets out a series of objectives for improving outcomes for island communities across Scotland. The National Islands Plan Survey gathered data relating to these objectives, with a view to:

• improving the availability of data held about Scotland's islands
• measuring aspects of the National Islands Plan consistently within and across Scotland's island communities
• providing baseline data against which to measure the effectiveness of the Plan

The strategic objectives are as follows:

1. To address population decline and ensure a healthy, balanced population profile

2. To improve and promote sustainable economic development

3. To improve transport services

4. To improve housing

5. To reduce levels of fuel poverty

6. To improve digital connectivity

7. To improve and promote health, social care and wellbeing

8. To improve and promote environmental wellbeing and deal with biosecurity

9. To contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation and promote clean, affordable and secure energy

10. To empower diverse communities and different places

11. To support arts, culture and language

12. To promote and improve education for all throughout life

This report describes the survey, methods, findings and conclusions.