Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 9
First Report - Cost of living: impact on rural communities in Scotland
Published 24 Jan 2024
Paragraph 61
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Cost of living: impact on rural communities in Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
By Spring 2024, the UK and Scottish Governments should agree a consistent means of defining food insecurity and food poverty and show how it plans to measure this in the context of remote rural communities in Scotland. In its response to this report, both Governments should also set out what it is doing to address high food prices affecting remote rural communities in Scotland specifically.
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, First Report - Cost of living: impact on rural communities in Scotland (HC 153), paragraph 61, 24 January 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 April 2024.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government notes the Committee's recommendations on defining rural Scotland and on transport, states that it "does not agree" with the call for a new review of cost of living support, and describes housing and transport policy as devolved matters for the Scottish Government.
- On the proposed review of winter 2022/23 support, the government says reviews by individual departments are already under way and "will address much of this recommendation", and it "does not agree" with conducting a new one.
- It says a further UK final impact and value-for-money evaluation of the energy support schemes is being commissioned to run until summer 2025, with findings to be shared with the Committee and published.
- On tailoring support to rural areas, the government says it "understands" the Committee's view that support could have been more tailored, but states that this "would have required these novel schemes to be adapted and further complicated" and delayed payments.
- On transport, the government "notes" the recommendations, says ferry, bus and active travel services are devolved, and says it will "where possible and appropriate" support the Scottish Government, including through the Islands Connectivity Task & Finish Group.