National Islands Plan: annual report 2021

Population Levels

Strategic Objective 1 – To address population decline and ensure a healthy, balanced population profile

We committed to identifying islands where population decline is becoming a critical issue in order to ensure that these islands have their needs addressed.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

In March 2021, the Scottish Government published Scotland's first population strategy, A Scotland for the future: opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population. The strategy sets out the cross-cutting demographic challenges that Scotland faces at national and local level, and outlines a new programme of work to address these challenges and harness new opportunities. It identifies 36 initial actions across four themes – a family friendly nation; a healthy living society; an attractive and welcoming country; and a more balanced population.

In Programme for Government 2021/22, Scottish Government committed to developing a £5 million Islands Bond fund, providing up to £50,000 each for up to 100 households by 2026, by providing financial support for island residents to remain in their community, or to encourage people to move there. We launched the Islands Bond consultation on 2 August 2021, providing an opportunity for our island residents in particular to identify the key challenges that a bond may be able to respond to. The consultation closed on 25 October with 1661 responses and a finalised analysis report will available in March 2022.

Scottish Government have also engaged closely with the Convention of the Highlands and Islands (CoHI) working group on population, which was established following the meeting of COHI in March 2021 to lead on exploring actions and initiatives to tackle depopulation in the region. The CoHI Working Group included representatives from Argyll and Bute Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Highland Council and North Ayrshire Council – as there were acute areas of depopulation identified as being within those four local authorities.^[1] Alongside these local authorities, membership also included Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and officials from the Scottish Government.

Growth Deals

The Islands Growth Deal, which covers Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides, also seeks to address the Islands' demographic challenges, by investing in the growing renewables sector along with academic, aquaculture, cultural and tourism offerings. The projects within the Deal will:

• demonstrate how to achieve government net zero carbon targets;
• create nationally significant new port infrastructure that will play an important role in supporting Scotland and the UK to achieve net zero targets;
• strengthen their place as unique 'living laboratories' for global innovation in low carbon technologies, wellbeing research and sustainable food production in partnership with our leading universities and research institutes;
• showcase their outstanding natural environment, heritage, culture, and creativity to the world; and
• create the foundation for an innovation-focused recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and support inclusive growth across island communities.

As part of the programme, Island Deal partners estimate that projects have the potential to create over 1300 sustainable jobs aimed at retaining and attracting workers aged 16-40, supported by a programme to equip the islands workforce with the skills to support their growth sectors. Heads of Terms for the Islands Growth Deal was signed on 17 March 2021, securing investment of up to £50 million each from both the Scottish and UK Governments over 10 years. It is expected to reach Full Deal in late 2022.

• At the end of 2021, outline business cases for the following projects were approved by the Islands' Growth Deal Joint Committee.
• ShellVolution, which will support significant expansion in the mussel farming sector in Shetland and throughout Scotland.
• The TalEntEd Islands Programme, which will create opportunities for education, skills, centre and intrapreneurship and commercialisation, supporting the increase in sustainable 'green' jobs across all three island groups.
• Scapa Flow Future Fuels Hub, which will enable the supply and distribution of low and net zero fuels to be established in Orkney.
• The second phase of the Orkney Research and Innovation Campus (ORIC2) at Stromness, enhancing existing facilities and creation of new spaces to further enable academic and commercial activity, collaboration, and business incubation.

These projects will help to support mussel framing, sustainable green jobs and low carbon fuels.

The Scottish Government has also committed to investing up to £25 million in the Argyll and Bute Growth Deal over 10 years. The Deal seeks to address demographic challenges through Argyll and Bute including its Islands and has three main themes:

• Connecting: improving physical and digital infrastructure to strengthen communities and supporting their high value and growth sectors to connect with national and international business markets;
• Attracting: providing additional skills, training and learning opportunities to attract and retain young talent and boosting the tourism offering; and
• Growing: doing more of what works; making more of their natural and built resources, supporting the innovation and growth of their key sectors.

Heads of Terms for the Deal were signed on 11 February 2021, and it is expected to reach Full Deal in the second half of 2022. The Deal includes the Low Carbon Economy Project which will complement the work being undertaken to support the development of a local energy plan for Islay and lead to the implementation of local energy initiatives across the island. This will help address fuel poverty as well as demographic and other challenges Islay faces including a constrained Grid network, high fuel and transport costs, high energy usage from distilleries and low local energy generation. In addition, the Rural Skills Accelerator project will include a mobile STEM Academy to enable delivery of STEM-focused lessons and workshops anywhere within Argyll and Bute including inhabited islands.

The Scottish Government is also a full partner in the Inverness and Highland City Regional Deal, contributing £135 million over 10 years. The Deal aims to drive inclusive economic growth across the region through investment in housing, skills, innovation and entrepreneurship, tourism, transport and digital. In addition, the Deal seeks to rebalance the population by attracting and retaining an additional 1,500 young people in the 18-29 age group. The Deal includes the Science Skills Academy project which is working with partners to establish sites for STEMD focused Newton Rooms in five locations working with local education and businesses. This includes a pop-up Newton Room for the west coast which became operational in August 2021 commencing activity in Portree on the Isle of Skye.

Aquaculture in Scotland brings significant benefits to our economy, produces healthy protein and supports over 12,000 jobs, many of which are based in our island and coastal communities, providing skilled and well paid employment. We are supporting women into aquaculture careers through the Women in Scottish Aquaculture initiative and are working to ensure that farmers and land managers have the skills they need through a comprehensive require of land based learning to increase opportunities for more people, particularly women, to gain qualifications, training and employment in the land-based and aquaculture sectors.

Work has begun to deliver our Vision for sustainable aquaculture in Scotland which will place an enhanced emphasis on environmental protection and community benefits. This will build on the community initiatives which the sector already actively supports, such as its contribution to infrastructure, IT and housing projects in the island communities in which it operates. Examples of impact include grant funding of over £1 million through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund and close working by Mowi, Argyll and Bute Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Communities Housing Trust and the Colonsay Community Development Company to deliver affordable housing on Colonsay, providing a solution to the housing shortage.

The wider seafood sector is also of huge benefit to the local islands economy, and we will deliver a seafood trade strategy for the sector in 2022, which will outline a vision and strategic aims to ensure the resilience and sustainability of this sector into the future, and enhancing the role of seafood as a low carbon sustainable source of protein. The strategy will set out our ambition to help revitalise the sector and secure jobs in line with a sustainable and natural capital approach.

We committed to understand the impact of Brexit on islands and island communities.

This commitment has been met.

Rural and island communities are particularly dependent upon tourism, fisheries, aquaculture and agriculture, and also are renowned contributors to our food and drink success story. Unfortunately, these sectors have been disproportionately hit by Brexit, not least through labour shortages. We also know that these communities benefited from European funds which have now been lost. UK Ministers pledged that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund would at least match the size of EU Structural Funds in each nation, each year – but current spending plans fall far short of replacing EU funds. Sottish Government will continue to utilise available powers and resources to maintain connectivity and help Scotland's islands to thrive.

We have worked closely with the Scottish Islands Federation to better understand the direct, grassroots impacts of Brexit across our island communities. Similarly, we have worked closely with our EU secretariat colleagues to reflect on feedback from a range of key stakeholders, in order to ensure that we are fully informed regarding the consequences being experienced at an islands level. This process has engaged a broad range of government colleagues e.g. Transport, Skills and Rural Economy in addition to collaboration with local authorities, HIE, SDS and UHI.

To support continued export of Scotland's fisheries and aquaculture sectors following Brexit, the Scottish Government has worked with UK Government to seek trade barrier solutions through the Scottish Seafood Industry Action Group. We also worked with the salmon producers, caught fish sectors, Food Standards Scotland, South Lanarkshire Council and transport company DFDS to create a seafood certification export hub in Larkhall. The creation of this hub has allowed the continued supply of fresh salmon, the UK's number one food export, to EU markets from our islands. In Q3 of 2021 Shetland, the Outer Hebrides and Orkney accounted for 50% of salmon production in Scotland.

Scottish Seafood has an international reputation for high quality, and contributes significantly to the islands economy. We will deliver a seafood trade strategy for the sector in 2022, which is integral to our Blue Economy approach that will help us to realise our ambitions for a wellbeing economy in Scotland which maximises growth opportunities while protecting marine biodiversity. The strategy will ensure we value and take care of the natural capital in our marine environment, and where secure and resilient future based on a sustainable seafood economy provides benefits to island communities.

We committed to develop an action plan to support repopulation of our rural and island communities and work with partners to test approaches using small-scale pilots.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

The work on Workforce Dispersal has resumed, with plans to form a working group to look at Scottish Government workforce and how jobs can be undertaken across any area of Scotland.

Work has also continued on this commitment through Scottish Government engagement with the CoHI working group on population, which was established in April 2021. The initial aim of the Group was to:

• better understand the conditions that are combining together to cause depopulation or restrict population growth;
• identify and develop a set of short, medium, and long-term actions to support the addressing of population growth challenges in our remote, rural and island communities; and
• investigate the concept of Repopulation Zones further, as was outlined in March's COHI paper.

The group identified five key thematic focuses central to the challenge of ensuring sustainable populations in communities. These included the availability and suitability of housing, the availability of jobs across the region (including public sector), critical infrastructure (including transport and broadband), the provision of and accessibility to public services, and attracting and retaining young people to the region.

At the October 2021 CoHI, the working group presented a paper setting out policy considerations and suggested locally-led population initiatives for discussion, and confirm next steps in regards to developing the concept of Repopulation Zones.

The paper set out a three-track approach:

• identify work underway and new commitments announced since March 2021 across organisations;
• recognise the urgency of the population challenge in certain areas, and provide suggestions on thinking for pilots and actions to be trialled locally and driven by local placed-based understanding within the next 6-12 months; and
• acknowledge the need to continue a long-term strategic dialogue between Scottish Government, local authorities, and enterprise agencies on population issues, provide an update on the development of the concept of Repopulation Zones.

Work continued in 2021 on developing a Rural Visa Pilot following the UK Government's own Migration Advisory Committee, in 2019, recommending the piloting of a scheme to attract and retain migrants in rural areas, stating that: "the current migration system is not very effective in dealing with the particular problems remote communities experience. If these problems are to be addressed something more bespoke for these areas is needed".

The 2021/22 PfG, therefore, contained a commitment to "develop a Rural Visa Pilot proposal, to support people to move to and work in our rural communities, submitting a proposal to the UK Government in 2022", to facilitate migration to rural and remote areas impacted by depopulation, in a way which best meets the needs of the communities affected. The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands wrote to Kevin Foster MP, UK Government Minister for Safe and Legal Migration, in January 2022, signalling the Scottish Government's intention to proceed with this commitment. A short-life working group is being established, comprising a range of local, regional and national stakeholders, to collaboratively input into the development of pilot proposals, and the Scottish Government plans to submit these proposals to the UK Government and the Migration Advisory Committee during summer 2022.

We committed to work with young islanders to identify actions to encourage them to stay on or return to islands.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

Work on the Student Retention project is continuing. Student Retention aims to encourage students to remain in Scotland (and rural locations/move to islands or highlands) after completing study – this applies to any students from Scotland or the rest of the UK. Working with young islanders will help us develop our understanding of what would make them want to stay or return after study. Workforce dispersal could also allow for jobs to be done anywhere and therefore there would be less of a need for young people to leave in order to engage in particular types of work.

Building on the Young Islanders Network Pilot project which was launched in January 2021, Youth Scotland are supporting delivery of the Scottish Government funded Young Islanders Network, which will be co-created and led by our young islanders, ensuring that the interests and priorities of this cohort are carefully considered and reflected in the development of this new forum.

We committed to fully consider policy developments, such as the findings of Scottish Government commissioned research Rural Planning to 2050 when ensuring that the needs of Scotland's islands are taken into account by the Ministerial Taskforce on Population.

This commitment was fulfilled in 2020. Please see the National Islands Plan Annual Report 2020 for further details.

We committed to ensure that policies aim to retain and attract Gaelic speakers to live and work in Gaelic speaking island communities.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

Scottish Government Gaelic policy seeks to ensure that job opportunities using Gaelic are located in island communities and that authorities and public bodies are employing Gaelic speakers where possible. Specific Scottish Government Gaelic funding contributes to this commitment, but it is noted that there is potential for larger employers to locate jobs and housing in island communities and consider Gaelic skills, which Scottish Government encourages.

Support for new early years developments and education resource is aiding Gaelic in these communities. The local authorties of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Highlands Council and Argyll and Bute Council all have Gaelic plans in place and commitments to encourage the use and learning of Gaelic. Some example projects include MG ALBA, Cèolas, Fèisean nan Gàidheal, Storlann, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.

We committed to work with policy colleagues to produce a National Development Plan for crofting which will set the long-term strategic direction for crofting – highlighting the core elements necessary to ensure crofting remains at the heart of our rural and remote communities.

This commitment has been fulfilled.

The Plan was published on 18 March 2021. It can be accessed at:

Crofting: national development plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We committed to work with the Crofting Commission to encourage a healthy turnover of croft tenancies on our islands to create opportunities for new people into crofting.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

The Crofting Commission are exploring new ways to ensure that entry to crofting is more accessible, and that we continue to see the increase in new entrants as we saw in 2019 and 2020, with over 830 new entrants into crofting – 44% of which were women.

The Crofting Commission has appointed two Crofting Development Officers, based in Stornoway and Balivanich. The new officers will liaise with crofting communities to encourage croft occupancy, working with assessors, landlords and townships to encourage opportunities for new entrants. The Commission has also expanded its Residency and Land Use team, in order to increase its work in addressing absenteeism and bringing crofts back into active use.

We committed to continue to provide support for island crofters to make improvements to their crofts and help to sustain their businesses, these will include: Croft House Grant Scheme, Cattle Improvement Scheme and other crofting support mechanisms.

This commitment was fulfilled in 2020. Please see the National Islands Plan Annual Report 2020 for further details.

The Scottish Government continues to provide support to island crofters to help sustain their croft businesses and make improvements to their crofts, and provide assistance towards the building of a new croft house or improvements to an existing croft house.

Since the Croft House Grant scheme was launched in 2007, more than £23 million has been awarded to 1,067 families and individuals in rural and island communities. Approximately half of which has been awarded to island crofters.

Since March 2020 we have awarded over £2 million in grant funding to help build and improve homes for 73 crofters and their families.

In financial year 2021/22, the Scottish Government provided a 75% increase to the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme budget, to £3.6 million.