The challenge of population balance: mapping Scotland's institutional and intervention landscape

Footnotes

1 In the interests of clarity and conciseness, our report will treat the Scottish Government as a single institutional actor. The internal structure of the Scottish Government is not the focus of this report.

2 It is understood that the Rural Delivery Plan will fulfil a similar role.

3 Here we are using the word in a specific sense, i.e. as a level in a hierarchy of forms of intervention. This is different from the more generic sense (where we are distinguishing the action which institutions carry out from the institutions themselves).

4 Here used in the generic sense

5 The original concept of this report included a set of case studies, focusing upon different parts of Scotland, in order to understand the way in which the policy system was perceived by local actors. It has become evident that this is an ambitious piece of work in itself, worthy of a separate report, which will hopefully follow in 2025. Nevertheless, valuable insights from local government participants in the Population Roundtable (see p26) are incorporated as text boxes.

6 Land Reform Act (Scotland) 2003, 2007, 2016, Community Empowerment Act 2015 ⁷ The justification is usually in terms of human rights, justice and equity.

7 The broad scope of the work was presented at the Population Roundtable on 26th August. A short questionnaire was subsequently circulated to Councils which expressed interest in supporting the project.

8 Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, Scottish Government 2015 Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010: guidance

9 The Scottish Ambulance Service became a national organisation in 1995; Police Scotland and the Fire Service were established in 2013. Scottish Water was created by amalgamating regional boards in 2002.

10 Local government in Scotland: Overview 2023

11 Stirling and Clackmannanshire form a single partnership with NHS Forth Valley.

14 See About Health and Social Care Integration in Scotland

12 “With past enlargements, and the prospect of future extensions, the EU is now of a size and diversity which demands a spatial development strategy. The concept of polycentric development has to be pursued, to ensure regionally balanced development, because the EU is becoming fully integrated in the global economy. Pursuit of this concept will help to avoid further excessive economic and demographic concentration in the core area of the EU. The economic potential of all regions of the EU can only be utilised through the further development of a more polycentric European settlement structure.” (ESDP p20)

13 See for example: Balanced Regional Development - Meaning and National Planning Fiction

14 For detailed discussion of life course approaches to migration see the forthcoming EAG report “Migration and Mobilities - Trajectories of Young People and Young Adults in Rural Scotland” to be published Spring 2025.

15 See the EAG’s 2022 Report on place-based policy approaches to population challenges.

16 Services included in 2020: Service stations, GP, Post Office, primary school, secondary school, retail centre. Travel times by car and by public transport are available. The indicators are available at data-zone level.

17 Such as that provided by the Improvement Service Local Outcomes Improvement Plans(LOIPs)