Population Taskforce minutes: December 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Kaukab Stewart, Minister for Equalities (KS), (Chair)
• Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture (AR)
• Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government (SR)
• Maree Todd, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport (MT)
• Paul McLennan, Minister for Housing (PM)
• Jenni Minto, Minister for Public Health and Women's Health (JM)
• Natalie Don-Innes, Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise (ND)
• Jim Fairlie, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity (JF)
• Shona Riach, Director for Culture and External Affairs (SRi)
• Rachel Sunderland, Deputy Director for Population and Migration (RS)
• Andrew White, Statistician, National Records of Scotland (AW)
• Erica Clarkson, Head of Islands Policy (EC)
• Michael Sinclair, Private Secretary to the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise (MS)
• Edwina Ryan, Private Secretary to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government (ER)
• Emma Cameron, Deputy Private Secretary to the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture (EC)
• Nathan Waldie, Private Secretary to the Minister for Equalities (NW)
• Eleanor Munro, Private Secretary to the Agriculture and Connectivity (EM)
• Mike Andrews, Population Team Leader (MA), Secretariat
• Lauren Smith, Population and Migration Senior Policy Officer (LS), Secretariat
• Kay Brenchley, Population Policy Officer (KB), Secretariat

Apologies

• Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
• Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform & Islands
• Ivan McKee, Minister for Public Finance
• Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy & Gaelic

 

Items and actions

Welcome and introduction

KS welcomed attendees and thanked them for their attendance. KS highlighted the successful recent expansion of Scotland’s Migration Service and the contributions of the Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population to the Population Programme – specifically around the Rural Visa Pilot proposal, Addressing Depopulation Action Plan, and the recent publication of the Asylum Right to Work proposal – and noted that a new iteration of the Group will be established from April 2025. The minutes of the previous meeting were approved for publication by the Taskforce.

Family Friendly workstream update

KS presented a paper which updated Taskforce members on recent research undertaken with regards to family friendly policies, with a specific focus on the Nordics, and their potential applicability to Scotland to address the fertility gap and support people to have the number of children that they wish to have.

Taskforce members reflected on the need to better communicate externally about policies and initiatives which make places attractive to live in or which will have a positive impact on demographic outcomes; for example the recent Scottish Budget announcement of the planned removal of the two child cap.

Taskforce members queried whether policies should be reframed to focus on repopulation rather than depopulation. However, it was highlighted that stakeholders were clear throughout the development of the Addressing Depopulation Action Plan that their local population goals may vary, rather than an explicit focus on solely bringing more people to an area. It was noted that Scottish Government supports a place-based response to these challenges and therefore if the local priority is identified as focusing on population retention, rather than seeking to repopulate to any specific local population number, then Scottish Government will support such a tailored response.

Members also discussed links between family friendly policies and a number of other areas as highlighted in the paper, such as employment, economic development, housing and inward migration. It was suggested that the recently expanded Scotland’s Migration Service could be a vehicle through which to address some of these issues and support communities in achieving local demographic objectives.

It was proposed that a paper be brought to the next meeting on Brand Scotland and how this service can better support the work of the Population Programme, as well as including a section on communications and messaging as standard within future Taskforce papers. The paper and proposed next steps, including further research into parental leave uptake, were agreed by the Taskforce.

National Records of Scotland statistics: Mid-year population estimates

AW presented an update on the recent publication of new mid-year population estimates by National Records of Scotland, which cover the period to end-June 2023. 

Taskforce members queried the extent to which migration statistics were influenced by the increased number of international students coming to Scotland – which may account for the overall population growing – and whether this recent rise is a trend which would continue in the longer term.

It was noted that many universities are currently reporting a significant decrease in the number of international applicants, as they do not see a path to stay in the long-term due to restrictions on bringing dependents and the UK Skilled Worker Visa salary threshold. Work is currently underway with Universities Scotland to gather better data with regards to this issue. Taskforce members highlighted a number of sectors which are particularly impacted by current UK immigration policy, such as health and social care and food and drink.

AOB

No items were raised under AOB. KS thanked members for their contributions and closed the meeting.