A report on demographic challenges in the Highlands and Islands pointed out that areas such as Argyll and Bute, the Outer Hebrides, Caithness and Sutherland are in need of intervention. Life expectancy was improving for decades, but has changed very little in the last five years. There is no quick fix for the challenges that are leading to depopulation. Although we cannot reverse population decline, we should question why people are choosing to have fewer children. That is not just the assessment of the Scottish Government; it is also the assessment of the UK Governments Migration Advisory Committee, which stated in its 2019 report: the current migration system is not very effective in dealing with the particular problems remote communities experience., The solution that was proposed by the Migration Advisory Committee and accepted by the then Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, was, to pilot a scheme that facilitated migration to these areas, then monitor what happens over several years and evaluate the outcomes.. This year, we are investing 8.3 million to deliver the national islands plan and critical infrastructure projects that are based on local priorities. I invite members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons now. Interestingly, even the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, now belatedly concedes that immigration is important for economic growth and plans to loosen immigration rules to boost the UK economy. According to the report, Scotlands total fertility rate has fallen from 2.5 in 1971 to a record low of 1.37 in 2019., early evidence from several European countries, including the UK, suggests that the pandemic has already had another, significant impact on plans to have children., From children, I turn to our elderly. Being pregnant and giving birth should not be career stopping. Keep up-to-date with the latest from Scotland's Census 2022. We must tackle this problem. In addition to that, we are investing 11.6 million through our rural community-led fund, which is committed to developing a remote rural and islands housing action plan, as well as making substantial investments in Scotlands digital infrastructure, despite responsibility for broadband being reserved to the UK Government. Kilmarnock is the 14th most populous locality in Scotland, and the largest in East Ayrshire. Ross-shire is one such area in which the housing shortage is felt acutely. In the absence of engagement from the UK Government, we have worked with 12 rural and island local authorities and with rural employers, as well as academic experts, to develop an evidence-based, practical proposal that could be delivered today. The work of the ministerial population task force is so important in that respect, because it is about taking a cross-cutting, cross-Government approach to tackling the issues. Recruitment is a major issue for all rural businessesour farmers cannot recruit essential workers, and fruit is left rotting in the fields. The Scottish Fiscal Commission has said that the low birthrate is a key driver of that. They include a failure to build more houses, a failure to deliver superfast broadband on time and a failure to provide robust and reliable transport infrastructure. That shows the strength of Scotlands higher education sector. In the United States census of 2020, 8 million people identified as being fully or partly of Scottish ancestry, forming the important ethnic group in the country as well as the second largest population of Scottish ancestry outside of Scotland. What percentage of Irish population is black? It is premature for us to support that specific measure today, given that it has only just been published, but I give the cabinet secretary the commitment that we will consider its contents in full. For example, for the skilled worker visa, someone must demonstrate that they have a job offer from a Home Office-licensed sponsor at the required skill level, and that they will be paid by their sponsor the relevant minimum salary threshold, which is normally 26,500 or the going rate for the particular jobwhichever is higher. If we have a clear patha clear routethat serves as a massive welcome sign, Scotland will quickly become more attractive. It is also why we continue to call on the UK Government to make the required reforms to its one-size-fits-all immigration system with immediate effect, to avoid the on-going and further damage that is being done to Scotland. In the year to mid-2021, cities and some council areas in the west of Scotland experienced depopulation. Published 23 March 2022 Directorate Chief Economist Directorate Part of Economy Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics measure the output of the economy in Scotland. Scottish Americans are Americans who have full or partial Scottish ancestry. People are more likely to hear someone ask, Why not move to a city, then?, than they are to hear the question, How can they justify charging you that much for energy? Worse, people are likely to be told in the cafe or the pub that young folk just want to go to Glasgow or Edinburgh for uni and then they do not come back. Our proposal, which has been led by my colleagues the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands and the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, is based on international evidence of what works. We also need to think very carefully about how we organise our public services. Scottish Liberal Democrats are also pressing for greater connectivity. Finally, Professors Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill recently submitted evidence to this Parliament that I hope the First Minister, who last week spoke of Scotlands high employment and low unemployment record, will find time to read, because their analysis shows that, on top of an official claimant count in Scotland of 122,000 people, there exists hidden unemployment of 102,000 people, who are largely, in the words of those professors. I call the cabinet secretary to wind up the debate for a generous 12 minutes. By the end of the 2040s, the number of people aged 75 or over will have nearly doubled from the number just 10 years ago. That worked, and I benefited from it as a secondary teacher moving to Dumfries and Galloway. The challenges of Brexit and demographic change mean that Scotland urgently needs the powers to increase inward migration. it has a coastline of approximately 6,500 miles and that becomes 10,500 miles when you include the islands it has a 96 mile long land border with England. We know about the failure to deliver 100 per cent superfast broadband, and we know about the on-going ferries crisis, which is causing misery for our island communities. We have identified that Scotland has a problem, but other countries across Europe have similar problems. Scotland is 32% of the united Kingdom's landmass. We will look into the issue in more detail and do what we can do in the short term to address it. The population of Edinburgh Scotland is 527,620. One of the key briefings, which no member has mentioned, is the vitally important one sent by Marie Curie ahead of todays debate. That is a significant part of the issue, but the regional breakdown shows that the south-east of Scotland also underperforms, and that is an area that is more connected to professional services and tourism than it is to oil and gas. Unfortunately for Scotland, we arefor nowtied into the UKs useless, heavy-handed and counterproductive immigration system, born to appease the south-east of England, and Brexiteers, who falsely blame EU migrants for economic issues, particularly in the north of England. Their factory has been advertising for a forklift driver for six weeks and has been unable to find one, with the result that the driver who is there has to work many extra hours to keep the whole place going. I welcome that, but questions are increasingly being asked about deliverability. Delivery of services in rural areas is necessarily more time consuming, given the distances between towns and villages, and therefore more costly. I do not know what their fear of embracing some differentiated policy on immigration is. And the second-populated city is Edinburgh which is the capital of Scotland, with a population of 435,791. It is great to see that some of our cultural assets are benefiting from people choosing to come and live in Scotland. The University of the Highlands and Islands clearly plays a role here, as does the expansion of digital infrastructure, but we still haemorrhage a disproportionate number of young and educated people, such as doctors whose studies we have invested in only for them to go elsewhere, sometimes never to return. That will produce the right skills and jobs to keep our talent here and stop the brain drain out of Scotland. Once it was thriving, but now the business has one of the few boats that is left in Troon. Finding and developing the solutions that we need to put in place is important, and a debate on rural housing policy is well overdue. In short, we need sustainable solutions and not short-term sticking plasters. Rural mobile networks can be overwhelmed by surges ofvery welcometourists and will need to be updated for population increases. Scottish Government back benchers have said that independence is the only response to all that, but what we need is proper devolution of migration policies and a Scottish Government that focuses on jobs, housing and services, which are all within its reach. There is no question but that we want to change and improve what is happening in that area. The Scottish Government needs to be very much aware of unintended consequences. In the summer, I visited Keswick in the English lake district. However, employers, businesses and communities are all telling us that action is needed right now, which is why we are developing a talent attraction immigration service for Scotlandwe will launch that next year and, in doing so, we will meet another programme for government commitment. He was absolutely correct. I know from my casework that young people would stay in rural communitiesEmma Roddick and others made that point. Who would want to consider moving to those communities if they do not think that transport links exist? Since Brexitfrom 2019 to 2021fish landings in Ayr were down in value by 36 per cent. That such an approach is being called for highlights the urgency of the problem. Does he have any idea why that may be? On a personal level, I note that, as a child of someone who emigrated to this country, I would not be standing in the chamber today if the current UK Government immigration rules had been in place then. That, to me, is a community-driven approach, and it would be attractive to not just younger people and families, but migrants. Published by D. Clark , Sep 5, 2022. Problem 2: more housing is needed. However, ultimately, we cannot import our way out of this problem. Will Brian Whittle join me in welcoming that, and will he join the Scottish Government and other parties in trying to deliver what it sets out to do? Scotlands farmers and rural communities need all the help that they can get at the moment. The most moving experience that I have had when visiting an island was much closer to homeSt Kilda. The populations of Wales and Scotland in 1200 were sparse, probably . I acknowledge the problem, but it is worth noting that the UK Government took action in 2018, and that that action continues. It is about choice, not forcing people to retire at an older age. As someone who is committed to the devolution settlement, I believe that this place is best suited to understand what our labour requirements are and to have input and participation in an immigration system. It should not be the case that broadband is so bad that folk in Sutherland cannot get logged on to work in the morning. First of all, we will know about Scotland and then move toward the population of Scotland. Although Brexit is not the only reason why we have skills shortages and employment gaps, it remains a sad period in Scotlands history, given that the particular model of Brexit that was presided over by the Johnson Government meant that, unfortunately, we lost huge numbers of EU citizens, and they were treated badly in the process. Sadly, such an approach did not survive a change in Home Secretary. In the United Kingdom, they use the first day of July each year because the Office for National Statistics normally publishes the estimated population data for the same period. The Scottish Government, in collaboration with local authorities and the business sector, has developed the rural visa pilot proposal, which is designed to help to meet the specific needs of some of Scotlands remote and rural communities within the existing UK immigration system. It is very hard to do it the other way around. Yes, but what should we do about it? I could top that a million times over. Like the cabinet secretary, I am an Edinburgh MSP. As things stand, however, there are simply not enough opportunities in that respect. As the cabinet secretary emphasised, we did not develop the policy in isolation but worked with partners, local authorities, businesses and others to bring forward a proposal that we believe will ultimately work. I welcome the rural visa suggestion for Scotland, but it is not nearly enoughas the cabinet secretary would agree, I am sure, were he in his seat. Does she also recognise, though, that crucial to achieving that migration into rural communities is having a rural economy that those migrants can work in? The census asks questions about people's age, sex, home and living situation, employment, education and qualifications, as well as . We need to listen so that we hear about some of the barriers that young people face in some of our most remote rural and island communities. Councillor Emma Macdonald, the leader of Shetland Islands Council, has said that the council considers that to be an extremely important step in addressing demographic challenges and skills shortages. The Construction Industry Training Boards briefing for members for the debate was fine, in that it focused on skills and so on, but it did not say much about growing the population, which remains key. We have clear evidence and expert analysis that shows that Scotland faces a distinct demographic challenge. East Lothian has a large rural community, which is about a third of the population of the area. Since 2014, the University of Glasgow and Swansea Universitys joint project on social support and migration in Scotland has highlighted specific challenges that are faced by migrants who settle in the countryside. The same was true of students with a disabilityone out of every three did not do so. We can embrace the likelihood that most of us have longer and higher-quality lives ahead of us than previous generations did, but not having the ability to make up retirement numbers in the workforce will lead to an economic decline and a decline in services. What solutions can she offer? There is clear evidence that the current UK immigration system is particularly poor at meeting the needs of those communities. I think that Daniel Johnson and I were on the same side of the Brexit argument. That would also benefit the thriving aquaculture sector and the export of millions of pounds worth of white fish that is currently landed at Cullivoe, both of which currently rely on the ferry service between those three locations. There are other reasons, of course, and it is clear that they are multifaceted and that no single Government can be held fully responsible for our current position, much of which predates not only the Brexit vote but devolution. Indeed, Scotlands employment and wage growth is not only slower than the UK average but slower than that of regions that we would expect to be our rough peers, such as the midlands, the south-west and the north-west. I thank all members for their engagement in what has been a rich and generally quite positive discussion across a range of policy areas relating to Scotlands population. According the Population projections by the Office for National Statistics, The population of the Scotland in 2022 was estimated to be 5,470,824 (5.47 million), Source: Office of the National Statistics (UK) & United Nation World Population Prospects, Source: *UK Census & United Nations World Population Prospects. We have oneI live in it. The sooner that Scotland becomes independent and no longer is shackled to the failing UK Government, the better. I think that Siobhian Brown put that into context best, when she said that these people are us in this chamber, and they are our friends, families and loved ones, who are stitched into the fabric of our country. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh and its official languages are English and Scots Gaelic. In the United States census of 2020, 8 million people identified as being fully or partly of Scottish ancestry, forming the important ethnic group in the country as well as the second largest population of Scottish ancestry outside of Scotland. My MP colleague Alistair Carmichael has been campaigning for changes to immigration visas for fishing crew, to address shortages. In the past year, my task force colleagues and I have developed a new talent attraction and migration service that will be launched in 2023 to support both Scottish employers who will recruit and individuals who want to come to Scotland. The changing labour market means that reskilling and retraining have never been more important, but the skills landscape is in places confused and complicated, and it needs to change. I think that many Tories would concede that that it is true. It will halve again by the middle of this century and, by the end of the 21st century, world population will be declining. Changes for 2022 Details of the new questions and new approaches for the census in 2022. International Steering Group The. Miles Briggs has described the problems and challenges relating to palliative care and other aspects of health. However, the bigger problem, which we could address more easily, is the population one. Most of them desperately want to stay in their communities, but they are being forced out. That will take more than just the politics that has been on display from the Scottish Government today. Todays motion talks about the importance of an effective migration system that meets Scotlands specific needs. I have plenty to say to get me through that time, Presiding Officer. That is being worked on by the Scottish Government, local authorities and other economic partners. However, we particularly need to question issues around fertility rates. Scotland has distinct needs. So, Scotland is a county but not an independent country, and it is located in the United Kingdom, occupying about one-third of the Island of Great Britain. statistics produced by National Records of Scotland today, Scotland's Population 2019 - The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends. In the United Kingdom, they use the first day of July each year because the Office for National Statistics normally publishes the estimated population data for the same period. Further, will it commit to supporting feasibility studies for building tunnels in Shetland? They cannot be heated because they are draughty old houses. On that, I congratulate the Scottish Government on bringing back the Borders railway, which has seen the population grow in places such as Gorebridge and Newtongrange, with young families moving in. There is even a suggestion that, within 20 years, Germany will have a lower population than that of the UK. We must also remember that there are other issues that are just as impactful on population retention, such as housing, jobs and services. Scottish Conservatives support an immigration system that assists the parts of Scotland that need immigration most, particularly remote and island communities. I share the cabinet secretarys sentiments about the need for a genuine consensus to take that forward. I will briefly talk about the rural visa pilot. Population wise California (4.7 million) has the largest number of people with Scottish Ancestry followed by Texas ( 3.8 million), Florida (3 million), North Carolina (2.3 million), and Michigan (2 million). For my constituentsand not just the elderly populationto have mixed and thriving communities not only provides staffing for our social care and health sector, but sustains local services, such as public transport, and local businesses, such as the local plumber, and keeps the local shops on the high street open. Those actions were set out against four pillars, which set out that Scotland should be family friendly; be a healthy living society; be an attractive and welcoming country; and have a balanced population. It is important to note that, as has already been acknowledged, Scotland has some particular features. There should be no barracking from the sidelines. When you see the table given above containing the population of Scotland for 10 years, you will see that there is no sudden or maximum growth in the population. Our population is forecast to grow, but not in rural areas. We are witnessing not only damage to our economy butworsethe stealing of a whole generations ability to contribute to society. The need to retain a younger demographic has to be addressed. Can the member imagine a Scotland where ferry services run on time and are more reliable, and where broadband is actually delivered so that people can have superfast broadband? 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