Islands communities screening assessment: regulations making provision in relation to social security appeals

Introduction

1. The importance of island-proofing was recognised in the " Empowering Scotland's Island Communities prospectus" ^[1] published in June 2014. The principle of island-proofing is one of building a broad-based islands awareness into the decision making process of all parts of the public sector.

2. The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 places a duty on the Scottish Ministers and other relevant authorities, including a number of public authorities, to have regard to island communities in exercising their functions, and for the Scottish Ministers this will also include the development of legislation. This duty is often referred to as 'island-proofing'.

3. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of island-proofing and committed to island-proofing its Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 (the 2018 Act), in advance of the Islands Act placing a formal requirement. The Scottish Government is also committed to island-proofing the secondary legislation required in setting up the new Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland that will hear appeals in the Scottish social security system.