Chamber and committees

I am happy to take any feedback on that. As you say, and as we have also highlighted today, we have already reviewed the guidance on the basis of feedback about how we undertake the assessments. We are constantly trying to make improvements wherever we can.

I am confident that we will continue to make progress. As I said, the progress that we have made during the past year can be seen, and the work is continuing.

We can see that from some of the commitments in the plan. A lot of the outcomes will be on-going, because we want to see continued improvement. I do not think that you would like it if I came to the committee and outlined that we have ticked a box, so we can move on and focus on something else. The review of the national islands plan—which I spoke about—is also important, because we have to ensure that the objectives in the plan still meet the needs of our island communities and that they reflect the priorities that island communities want us to focus on.

If you look across the board at the full suite of objectives, you will see that we are continuing to work on them. For example, a number of threads of work are on-going on strategic objective 1, which is on population. We are working on the talent attraction and migration service, and we are continuing to work on the addressing depopulation action plan, which is a key commitment. We are continuing to work, and we are trying—where we can, and wherever possible—to improve outcomes for our island communities.

That is really important. We want to make sure that that voice is featured strongly as we move through the implementation of the plan and in the actions that we have set out. That is where the work is.

A couple of different bodies help us with the implementation of the plan and its monitoring. We have the islands strategic group, which the local authorities sit on; its next meeting is coming up shortly. We also have the national islands plan delivery group, and that is where you really see that engagement. A number of bodies are represented in that group, including Highlands and Island Enterprise, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Scottish Islands Federation and the CalMac community board. As I mentioned earlier, representatives from the young islanders network are in it as well. The group has been convened in part to help us look at issues as they emerge; for example, it has had meetings to discuss the cost of living crisis. The group has been really helpful in getting that feedback, having those conversations, and, as you say, making sure that we have that voice feeding into the process. Officials might want to give more information on the islands plan delivery group in particular.

If there are particular issues there, I am more than happy to follow them up with you after the meeting, or directly with the committee.

ICIAs are a mechanism that we must use in developing policies, but they are not the only mechanism by which we engage with communities. We have highlighted some of the other examples. We have the national islands plan delivery group and we have the strategic group, where we engage with councils. There is also the engagement that Francesco Sindico talked about with various island stakeholders.

I would not want anybody to think that ICIAs are the only mechanism by which they can make their views on a policy known. Obviously, we want to consult and engage with communities as much as we can in the course of policy development. While some of the bodies have a particular role, we also have informal engagement with our stakeholders and with communities. ICIAs are by no means the only mechanism by which they can have a say or have influence.

Although £1 million has been allocated to the CNI project, as Francesco Sindico has said, it is by no means the only investment that is being made. We have the islands programme, but, when you look at other areas, there is spend across all other parts of Government that will have an impact, not to mention how the islands growth deal can contribute.

We know that fuel poverty is a massive issue. Finding innovative ways to address some of the issues that we are facing was the subject of conversations that I had in Shetland last week. Our islands are at the forefront of innovation. Look at the energy that is produced and the fact that the islands are responsible for contributing it—yet our islands suffer the greatest rates of fuel poverty. Those issues are complex, because we do not have all the levers to fix them. However, the project allows us to look at how we can best tackle fuel poverty in communities. Although the committee’s discussion is focused on carbon neutrality, you will, no doubt, be aware of some of the other schemes on fuel poverty and the particular focus on islands in that regard.

There is a list of bodies that are expected to undertake island communities impact assessments—they are set out in the schedule. There are 71 bodies listed there. I would be happy to send that information to the committee, if you would find that helpful.

I will give a brief outline. I know that Francesco Sindico will be desperate to come in, as he is the project lead on carbon neutral islands.

The committee will be aware that, in January this year, we published a progress update report on where we are in relation to that. Francesco has already touched on the community development officers that we have working in each of the communities. The in-depth carbon audits have been undertaken, and I believe that the climate change action plans for each of those areas have now been completed but are still to be published. That is where we are at the moment, but I will hand over to Francesco, who can provide some more detail.

I do not have that information to hand, and I do not know whether that is the case, but I am more than happy to follow up on that.