Reporting on and review of plan
Section 5 – Report on plan
13.This section places a duty on the Scottish Ministers to prepare and publish an annual progress report providing information on the improvement of outcomes for island communities that has occurred over the previous year, the steps that the Scottish Ministers will take if an outcome identified in the plan has not improved over the previous year, and on how Ministers themselves have complied with the duties in relation to island communities imposed by Part 3 of the Act. Such reports must be laid before the Parliament and published within 3 months after the end of the reporting year, as per subsection (3).
Section 6 – Review of plan
14.This section provides for the timescales and review of the plan once it has been prepared and published under section 4. Subsection (1) requires the Scottish Ministers to review the plan before the end of five years from when the plan was last published. Ministers may also review the plan at another time should they see fit.
15.Subsection (2) allows Ministers to revise the plan as they consider appropriate following a review. Subsection (3) applies the same duties set out in section 4 for the original plan – of consultation, of laying before the Scottish Parliament, and of publication – to any review of the plan.