4  Island Community Impact Assessments (ICIAs)

A crucial change the Act seeks to make is to ensure public authorities consider the impacts of their decisions on island communities. This includes providing islanders with more avenues to challenge public authorities if they don’t consider the impacts of changes to policy, strategy and services to island communities. The most important aspect of this was the need for relevant authorities to undertake Island Community Impact Assessments (ICIAs).

The Act places a duty on relevant authorities to undertake an ICIA when developing, redeveloping, and delivering a policy, strategy or service. An impact assessment is required if it is anticipated to have a significantly different effect on an island community compared with other communities in Scotland, including other island communities and non-island communities.

Who needs to do this?

The Act applies to most public bodies and the full list of relevant authorities can be found in the schedule of the Act. Their responsibilities will depend on whether they operate in a specific area (e.g. a local authority) or a national body (e.g. Scottish Fire and Rescue Service).

The six local authorities that the Act applies to are:

• Argyll and Bute
• Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar
• Highland
• North Ayrshire
• Orkney
• Shetland

If the authority operates in a specific geographical area the assessment of differential impact will only include other communities within the same geographical area. If the authority operates across Scotland, the assessment must consider the impact on communities throughout the entire country.

Why are Island Community Impact Assessments important?

The intention is that island communities impact assessments will become a normal procedural step in public authorities' decision-making processes. This is similar to the equality impact assessments used in relation to the duties contained in the Equality Act 2010. By considering the unique needs and circumstances of island communities, authorities can ensure more equitable and effective policies, strategies and services.