I begin by telling my “Tried to get to the islands but couldn’t get a flight” story, since everyone else has done so.
Earlier this year, I tried to represent the Equal Opportunities Committee on a visit to Islay. I got to Glasgow airport and the plane was overbooked. There was nothing anyone could do and I just had to go home again. However, I got a compensation payment of €250, which seemed like quite a good deal. I gave the money back to the Parliament—I put it on record that I did not keep the compensation. Islay’s loss was the Scottish Parliament’s gain on that occasion.
I digress. For me, Scotland’s islands bring many happy memories to mind. As a tourist, I have experienced their culture, their environment and their landscapes. I have hill walked in Skye, and travelled by ferry to Mull and lona, and Harris and Lewis. I have crossed the Atlantic bridge to Seil and Easdale. I have had a fantastic week in Orkney visiting the historical and cultural sites of interest, and I have been a guest of the guizer jarl at the Up Helly Aa on Bressay in Shetland. I would be the first to agree that our island communities are a special part of Scotland.
Although, on the face of it, Scotland’s islands appear to face the same challenges as mainland communities—such as fuel poverty, housing and transport—we need to ensure that they are equipped to deal with those challenges, and the solutions and services required may differ from the mainland, or indeed among different islands.
From my previous existence as community planning officer in Fife, I know how important it is that politicians and their officials listen to local people and stakeholders when making decisions about policies and how resources are used. The Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles Councils, through their our islands, our future campaign, which was launched in 2013, have worked hard so that their concerns and ideas are heard. Their campaign set out a vision for a stronger future for Scotland’s island communities and called on both the Scottish and UK Governments to commit to ensuring that the needs and status of island areas were clearly recognised in whatever emerged as the future governance arrangements for Scotland.
That is why Scottish Labour supports the work of the our islands, our future campaign. In recent years, campaigners have made a strong case for empowering our island communities so that they can address the problems that they face, and we will continue to work with them to ensure that the anticipated islands bill meets their expectations.
The Scottish Government is now at the stage of consulting interested stakeholders on plans for more power and protection for Scotland’s islands, so as to inform the future bill. We must ensure that the islands can secure a more prosperous and fairer future for their communities as a result of that bill.
I will focus on one key aspect of that consultation: island proofing. The principle of island proofing, as set out in the consultation document, is about building a broad-based islands awareness into the decision-making processes of relevant parts of the public sector. In practice, it will involve consideration of the particular needs and aspirations of island communities when the Scottish Government and other relevant public bodies exercise their functions.
The Government is seeking views on whether it should have the power to issue statutory guidance to other public bodies and on whether those bodies would be required to adhere to the guidance. The consultation further asks which bodies should be included in the scope of that statutory guidance.
The issues that have been outlined in the consultation documents seem to be considered, fair and reasonable. I note a word of caution, however: in my experience, proofing for any of a range of scenarios, be they to do with equality, rural, future or island issues, can too easily become a tick-box exercise. If the assessment is to add real value, we have to take a participative approach, involving all stakeholders. That will involve additional time and expense, but the results in the long term will be worth while.
That participatory democracy, and the ability that comes with it to robustly island proof policy in the future, will be influenced by the outcome of the Scottish Government’s consultation, which, as well as asking about island proofing, also raises questions on:
“Empowering Island Communities – what additional powers and functions could be passed to island councils to benefit or better protect the island communities they serve”.
Would that be the same for all islands, or could there be geographical variations?
The consultation discusses a
“National Islands Plan – whether a legal duty should be placed on all future Scottish Governments to prepare a ‘National Islands Plan’, setting out on-going commitments across all policy areas of Government to support, promote and empower our island communities”
and
“Statutory protection for the Na h-Eileanan an lar Scottish parliamentary constituency boundary”,
with the Western Isles being the only constituency in Scotland made up entirely of islands but not having that protection.
The consultation also mentions:
“Local Government Electoral Wards – whether the Local Government Boundary Commission in Scotland should have discretion to recommend wards with less than three councillors so that populated islands are not placed in an electoral ward that contains a significant proportion of mainland population”.
That is because of concerns among some island communities that their distinctive interests may not be represented in a larger council’s discussions, and that the island community may not have a councillor among its residents.
In its 2015 manifesto, Scottish Labour committed to use the powers of the Smith commission to devolve more power to our island communities and to use new powers of the Scottish Parliament to devolve the administration and revenues of the Crown Estate to communities so that they could manage and develop their own sea bed and foreshore.
We also committed to ensuring our island communities a place at the heart of the UK Government. That involved commitments to maintain the islands desk in the Scotland Office and to convene a summit between the UK Government and Scotland’s island councils twice a year.
Scottish Labour will play our part in ensuring a strong deal for our island communities. I look forward to the progress of the islands bill and to the opportunity to bring about a positive impact on the health, wellbeing and prosperity of Scotland’s islands.
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