Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges faced by our rural and island communities and works closely with stakeholders and partners to ensure that those challenges are addressed.

All relevant authorities listed in the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 , must have regard to island communities in carrying out their functions. They must prepare an Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) in relation to a policy, strategy or service, which is likely to have an effect on an island community, which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities). The islands team supports colleagues from across the Scottish Government as well as relevant authorities in completing ICIAs. This includes offering island specific knowledge, published ICIA guidance , and providing links to key stakeholders.

As committed to in the Policy Prospectus, we are developing a Rural Delivery Plan, which will provide a platform to prioritise and progress existing work to seize opportunities and address the challenges faced by rural Scotland, as well as drive greater rural mainstreaming and reprioritise action to support our rural communities.

Where Scottish Government has the powers to do so, we have provided funding that responds to rural and island communities’ specific needs through, for example, the Islands Programme and our Community Led Local Development (CLLD) programme.

Over the period 2021-2026, the £25.8 million Islands Programme is providing targeted capital funding to support delivery of the National Islands Plan across a range of areas, including tourism, infrastructure, innovation, energy transition and skills. We have invested over £14.6m of CLLD funding in our rural communities following the end of the LEADER programme in December 2021.

There are many other, independent organisations which provide funding that may benefit rural and island communities. The terms and conditions applied to each open fund are clearly stipulated when a fund is announced. Scottish Government has no locus in setting these terms unless it is a fund which is being distributed on our behalf.

The Scottish Government is committed to the creation of a Scottish Veterinary Service (SVS) to ensure there are highly trained staff to provide Scotland with good animal health and food safety to meet all our needs across the public and private sector for animal health issues.

A Programme has been established to manage the work required to create an SVS, which includes conducting a financial appraisal of the operational and investment costs of the Service.

All potential functions considered for future delivery by the SVS are already funded by the Scottish Government under a variety of arrangements. Some of those functions already attract fees raised from industry, but it is too early to consider any new future charges.

The financial appraisal will assess how consolidation under a single body provides opportunities to enhance quality, efficiency, resilience and value for money.

The Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 does not make any specific provision regarding all-through schools or the establishment of partnerships between schools, for example, regarding school management. It is primarily for local authorities to consider whether any proposed significant change to a school is a “relevant proposal” as set out in Schedule 1 of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 and, if so, to comply with its requirements.

Where a proposal would result in the permanent discontinuance of a school, or stage of education in a school, the local authority must publish a proposal paper, which includes a statement of the educational benefits of the proposal. The consultation must last for at least 30 school days. The local authority must let relevant consultees, including affected parents, Parent Council(s) and pupils, know about the consultation and invite responses. A public meeting must also be held. The local authority must invite Education Scotland to prepare a report on the educational aspects of the proposal. The local authority must publish a consultation report which responds to issues raised through the consultation period.

If the proposal involves the closure of a rural school, or stage of education in a rural school, the local authority must also comply with additional requirements, including considering reasonable alternatives to closure and only proceeding if closing the school is the most appropriate response to the reasons it has identified for making the proposal. For rural schools, a number of these steps must be carried out before the local authority embarks on the formal consultation as set out above.

The Scottish Government considers the conversion of temporary to permanent accommodation an effective measure to increase the number of social homes. We encourage local authorities to ‘flip’ a tenancy wherever the property is in the right location, and of the right size and type to meet the household’s requirements. Large scale flipping of tenancies can be particularly effective in areas where the greatest pressures in temporary accommodation are experienced.

In our response to the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group recommendations, we said that we will work with COSLA, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to develop national guidance to encourage more effective stock management by the end of this year.

We recognises that disabled women and girls are at greater risk of violence than non-disabled women and girls, and women with a learning/ intellectual disability are more likely to experience sexual abuse than other disabled people.

Through our Delivering Equally Safe (DES) fund, we are providing £19m per year to support 121 projects that focus on early intervention, prevention. This includes projects that provide advocacy support to disabled women. We have extended the fund till 2025.

We have also, along with our partners, established a Gender Based Violence Steering Group to reduce incidences of violence and empower women with learning/intellectual disabilities and/or autistic women to have safe and loving relationships.

The latest Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) results estimate that 3.4% of females aged 16+ with a disability experienced at least one violent crime in 2019/20, which is above that for all females aged 16+ (2.0%). The survey defines disability as a physical or mental health condition or illness lasting or expected to last at least 12 months, and which reduces a person’s ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

We will continue to gather this evidence, including publication of the next SCJS findings in Autumn 2023. These results will cover a full years’ worth of interviews through to December 2022, with the prolonged gap since 2019/20 due to the earlier suspension of the survey in March 2020 to restrict social contact during the pandemic.

We also recently incorporated updated questions on partner abuse and violence against women and girls into the 2023/24 survey, which were identified as a key priority by survey users.

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 (“the Act”) includes the duty to have regard to island communities. This means that a relevant authority as listed in the Schedule of the Act must consider island communities when carrying out its functions.

There are 71 relevant authorities listed in the Schedule of the Act including funding bodies such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

A relevant authority can demonstrate compliance with the duty to have regard to island communities by making such arrangements as it considers appropriate to review any policy, strategy or service (as the case may be) which it develops or delivers in carrying out its functions, and either, in the case where the authority must prepare an island communities impact assessment under section 8(1) of the Act, by preparing that assessment, or in any other case, by making such an assessment or taking such other steps as the authority considers appropriate.

NatureScot regularly reviews its approach to licensing to ensure that any licences that are issued are informed by the best information available, including taking into account any policy developments or legislative changes.

NatureScot issues licences that permit the use of lethal control of beavers only where it is necessary as a last resort. In addition, NatureScot have been proactively working with licence holders over the last 4 years to encourage a greater use of trapping and translocation wherever this is feasible. In their Beaver Management Report for 2022 NatureScot reported the proportion of beavers being removed by trapping as opposed to lethal control had increased from 28% in 2021 to 42% in 2022.

NatureScot have included the need for consideration of trapping in the Code of Practice that accompanies lethal control licences. Lethal control licences have a maximum period of two years and as a result of the most recent internal review of beaver licensing (undertaken in Spring 2023), licence holders are being asked to reapply for a new licence when their licence expires to ensure that licences are issued based on an up to date assessment of the three European Protected Species licensing tests.

NatureScot are able to license beaver management activities under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994. However the legislation requires the same tests to be met for trapping (or taking) as for killing a protected species and does not require the use of trapping to be considered before a licence for lethal control is granted.

However, NatureScot recognise the hierarchy of impacts of control methods on populations and individual animals and as such have been proactively working with licence holders over the last four years to encourage the use of trapping and translocation wherever this is feasible. Trapping is carried out by NatureScot at no cost to the licence-holder. In their Beaver Management Report for 2022 NatureScot reported the proportion of beavers being removed by trapping as opposed to lethal control had increased from 28% in 2021 to 42% in 2022. The Code of Practice that accompanies lethal control licences also asks licence applicants to consider whether trapping would be a feasible means of control.

Under the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002 The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman is excluded from considering complaints about the curriculum offering or teaching. They can consider complaints about complaints handling.

While the Curriculum for Excellence provides the overarching framework and sets out the eight curriculum areas, the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education sits with local authorities and schools under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980.

Currently we have not undertaken any modelling and do not have an estimate of property acquisitions likely to be supported. All acquisitions will align with Local Housing Strategies.