National Islands Plan: Implementation Route Map 2024

Ministerial Foreword

I am pleased to present the 2024 update to the National Islands Plan Implementation Route Map (IRM).

Building on the Annual Report published last March, this is the latest in a series of documents released every year since 2022 to chart a forward-looking path for the continued implementation of Scotland’s National Islands Plan.

This route map sets out the tangible actions and investments that the Scottish Government intends to put in place going forward to support our island communities and empower them to thrive.

The complex challenges and significant opportunities facing our islands call for decisive actions across a broad spectrum of policy areas. This document seeks to catalyse and coordinate the delivery of island-focused measures across portfolios, concentrating on National Islands Plan commitments around which further efforts are needed.

There is, however, an important difference compared to past iterations of this route map.

As required by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, the Scottish Government has carried out a comprehensive review of the National Islands Plan. As well as inviting responses through a dedicated online portal, we delivered in-person workshops and hosted online sessions to engage as many islanders as possible and give everyone with an interest in Scotland’s islands the opportunity to share their views.

While the Plan was seen as comprehensive and ambitious, respondents were clear that there is more to be done to realise our shared vision of successful and empowered island communities.

Since its publication in December 2019, the implementation of the Plan has navigated through a succession of often intertwined crises, not least the full effects of an unwelcome Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the widely felt repercussions of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The resilience shown by our islands in the face of these challenges cannot be overstated.

Having considered the results of the consultation and reflected on what islanders told us, we have announced that a new National Islands Plan will be published in 2025.

Continuing a dialogue that has been underway since the development of the first Plan, we will work with island communities, local authorities and delivery partners to ensure the new document reflects their priorities and is conducive to even stronger partnerships benefitting islanders.

This route map will therefore continue to guide the ongoing implementation of the current Plan whilst ensuring continuity between the two documents and bridging their delivery.

People and communities will remain at the very heart of this work. The Scottish Government will continue to listen to and be guided by islanders while we sustain our efforts to meet their needs and support their ambitions.

Mairi Gougeon

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands