Population Taskforce: terms of reference

Scotland, like many other nations, is facing a demographic challenge driven by a range of factors: our population is ageing; due to a declining birth rate in Scotland (currently at the lowest rate since records began in 1855), population growth is reliant on inward migration from the rest of the UK and internationally; and our working age population is projected to decline in the coming decades. These effects are also not being felt uniformly across Scotland as, broadly, population distribution is shifting from west to east and towards predominantly urban communities in the central belt, which has given rise to particular localised challenges.  

Population policy sits within the Social Justice portfolio and is led at ministerial level by the Minister for Equalities.  

Purpose of the Ministerial Population Taskforce

The purpose of the taskforce is to oversee the delivery of the Scottish Government’s Population Strategy, published in 2021, and ensure Scotland’s population is enabled to support the needs of communities, economies and public services through:

• ensuring that the emerging and potential population challenge is fully understood, both within the Scottish Government and externally, and that these impacts are clearly articulated and responded to
• delivering on its aspiration for Scotland’s population in terms of sustainable population levels over the short, medium, long term
• ensuring a comprehensive understanding of current activity across Scottish Government policy that is addressing the multiple aspects of the demographic challenge
• identifying and delivering innovative and collective interventions to respond to significant gaps. This may include new interventions or scaling up/accelerating existing activity
• delivering a cohesive policy approach to the overarching population challenge with effective delivery arrangements

The taskforce tasks relevant policy areas with taking action following the identification of gaps, overlaps, and areas for new activity that meet the population needs of Scotland’s communities and economy, and identifies the further action needed to meet SG objectives and deliver an overall plan of action integrating new and existing action to support the agreed cohesive approach to population policy. 

The taskforce meets quarterly via MS Teams and secretariat is provided by the Population and Migration Division. 

Remit of the Ministerial Population Taskforce 

The remit of the Ministerial Population Taskforce is to oversee the coherent delivery of activity which are informed by high level demographic trends in Scotland. This includes set of actions around the four strands of population strategy as listed below:

• ‘A Family Friendly Nation’ – as Scotland’s birth rate is falling (and is the lowest in the UK), we must ensure Scotland is the best place to raise a family
• ‘A Healthy Living Society’ – as Scotland’s population lives longer, which is to be celebrated, we must ensure that our people are healthy and active
• ‘An Attractive and Welcoming Country’ – as Freedom of Movement ends, Scotland needs to be able to attract people who can make a positive contribution to our economy, communities and public services
• ‘A More Balanced Population’ – with rural communities and those in the west experiencing population decline, while many in the east experience increased population growth, we must ensure our population is more balanced and distributed so all our communities can flourish

Membership

Membership of the Ministerial Population Taskforce consists of:

• Minister for Equalities (Chair)
• Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic 
• Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands
• Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture
• Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
• Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
• Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government
• Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity 
• Minister for Housing
• Minister for Public Finance 
• Minister for Employment and Investment 
• Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise 
• Minister for Public Health and Women's Health 
• Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport

Official-level programme board

The Ministerial Population Taskforce is supported by a senior official-level group (the Population Programme Board), which also meets quarterly, and brings together multiple areas of work across government in order to seek coherence in policy development and delivery, as well as identify and address gaps. The board serves as an initial forum for discussing, reviewing and providing strategic feedback on papers prior to their consideration by ministers. 

Policy teams from the ministerial portfolios above are represented on the programme board as are other areas with a key interest in population and demographic change, notably National Records of Scotland. The board also includes key delivery partners including Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise and COSLA.

The programme board is chaired by Shona Riach, Director of External Affairs and Culture, and is supported by the same secretariat as the Ministerial Population Taskforce.