Island Communities Impact Assessment

The duty

As one of the relevant authorities listed in the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (the keeper) is under a statutory duty to have regard to island communities in carrying out her functions (Section 7) and to prepare an Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) in relation to a policy, strategy, or service, which, in the Keeper’s opinion, is likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (Section 8).

An ICIA is important because island communities can face many challenges when compared with mainland and urban areas. For example, the consequences of geography can create particular problems for island communities such as poor digital connectivity.

The ICIA consideration and decision-making process has been incorporated into Registers of Scotland (“RoS”) business processes, project planning and assurance checklists.

Publication

Once prepared, an ICIA will be published on this page in the table below.

Annual reporting

The Keeper is also under a duty to publish information about the steps it has taken to comply with Section 7 during a reporting period.

A reporting period is any period determined by the Keeper of up to a maximum of one year. The publication of the annual reporting duty will be through the RoS Annual Report.

Review process

In certain circumstances, as set out in part 3 of The Island Communities Impact Assessments (Publication and Review of Decisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020, a decision on the ICIA can be challenged.

This is like an appeal process, on a decision taken:

1. to carry out an ICIA
2. to not carry out an ICIA
3. on the decision of the ICIA

An application for review of a decision relating to an ICIA must be made within the period of 3 months beginning with the publication date of the decision regarding an ICIA, be in the appropriate form, and contain the relevant information.

The appropriate form to be used by an applicant for a review of a decision relating to an ICIA is provided in the regulations.

The Keeper must, within 10 working days of receipt of an application for review, send a written acknowledgement to the applicant informing the applicant of the website on which documents submitted in connection with the review will be published.

Where an application for review has been made, documents submitted in connection with the review will be published on this page in the table below.

Review documents published will not include the name, contact details and signature of the applicant or those who have made comments or representations.

The Keeper has six months to make a decision on the application for review.  The applicant will be issued with a notification of the decision, and the decision will be published on this page in the table below.

You can contact us with any enquiries about an ICIA prepared by the Keeper or to submit an application for review of a decision relating to an ICIA.

RoS ICIAs

If you would like these ICIAs in an accessible format, please contact us with your preferences.

You can find out more about ICIAs from the Scottish Government guidance.