Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament am ar 26 Mehefin 2024.
To ask the Scottish Government how citizens assemblies can help to ensure that the views of people in rural communities are taken into account in decision-making on matters of importance to rural Scotland. (S6O-03626)
We want public participation in our democracy and we want people to be involved in the issues that they care about and the decisions that affect them. Citizens assemblies are one method of achieving that, as there are many instances when involving people in an important decision is better approached differently.
For example, we fund Scottish Rural Action to deliver the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament. That democratic assembly takes place every second year and ensures that rural voices are heard in policy making. The most recent event was held in Fort William last November and attracted more than 500 participants from across rural and islands Scotland.
I have been contacted by constituents and organisations across rural Dumfries and Galloway who are concerned about decisions that are made about their communities, particularly in relation to energy and infrastructure projects and delivery of rural healthcare. Can the minister comment on how the Scottish Government listens to rural areas on such matters more generally, and can he provide assurance that the views of people in the south-west of Scotland are treated with equity with those of people in urban areas?
I can certainly give that assurance and, more generally, assurance on the importance of listening to the voice of rural Scotland, which is important to me. I represent a largely urban constituency, but it contains rural communities, so the issue is as important to me, as a constituency representative, as it is to me as a minister, and it is important for the Government.
I referred to the work of the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament: Scotland is the only jurisdiction in the United Kingdom with a rural Parliament. With regard to the part of Scotland that Ms Harper asked about, last summer we held, in Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway, a community workshop that was focused on the land use and agriculture just transition plan. We also continue to support rural communities in Dumfries and Galloway through our community-led local development funding programme.