Planning for 2031 census in Scotland under way
New topics for the last census in 2022 included UK Armed Forces Veterans and sexual orientation.
National Records of Scotland (NRS) said that it will work closely with other UK statistical bodies on the design and build of the census, as it has done in previous years.
NRS chief executive Alison Byrne said: 'No other survey provides the richness and range of information that the census does, enabling governments and other public bodies to plan the services we all rely on, and telling the story of Scotland's people for generations to come.
'We look forward to hearing from data users across Scotland in the coming months.
'Their responses will help us to understand the best way to meet their needs as we plan for a 2031 Census.'
We're recommending that Scotland's next census takes place in 2031.
The census captures vital data about Scotland's population. This information is used to shape policies and services that affect all of us.
Find out more 👉 https://t.co/TPJFtsVi78 pic.twitter.com/6ZsfoN7Bq1
— Scotland's Census (@Scotscensus) June 17, 2025
NRS said that census data is vital for gathering a vast range of information about Scotland's people which local and central government, the NHS and a range of other service providers and data users in the public, private and third sectors need.
More than one billion statistics were published from Scotland's 2022 Census on topics including education, transport, religion, migration and national identity.
Scottish Government ministers have confirmed that they have accepted in principle NRS's recommendation to hold a census in Scotland in 2031, with further detailed plans to follow.
A census has been taken every ten years since 1801 in Scotland, except for 1941, while the 2021 census was delayed until 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
No-nonsense state school that beats some of England's most expensive private secondaries in GCSE results - headed by Britain's strictest head teacher
Britain's strictest head teacher is celebrating record GCSE results for her pupils in one of London 's most deprived boroughs. Katharine Birbalsingh said her outstanding results were 'social mobility at its best' as her students beat the odds. Every pupil at Michaela Community School in Wembley passed both English and maths with grade 4 and above - for the first time ever. In addition, an incredible 80 per cent of all GCSE grades at the school were 7 to 9 -equivalent to the old A-A*, and nearly 40 per cent achieved five or more grade 9s. Despite serving one of London's poorest communities, Michaela consistently beats those serving the most privileged. Last year, it had the country's top 'Progress 8' score - measuring how well pupils do compared with prior attainment. Its success has been attributed to its tough discipline, 'no excuses' approach, with all new students taking part in a behaviour 'boot camp'. Miss Birbalsingh has accused the Government of 'Marxism' this year following a move to curb the freedoms of academies like hers. Posting her maths and English results on X this morning, she said: 'GCSE results are OUT! First time we have achieved this! Congratulations to everyone! Social mobility at its best! 'Just so lovely… kids at all levels achieving well beyond what the stats say they should get! Michaela is a special place.' She later said: 'We are so happy for the children. They are delighted with their results - GCSEs open so many doors for them. This is always the most exciting time of the year for our kids. All that we stand for - working hard and persevering, even when it is difficult - pays off now.' She also posted that 99 per cent of all GCSE grades were 4 to 9, equivalent to C to A* under the old system. And 97 per cent were 5 to 9. It came as pupils across the country were celebrating another top grades bonanza as one in five GCSE entries got at least a grade 7 or A following a rise on last year. However, nationwide, the GCSE pass rate for English and maths has hit a record low, amid fears that some pupils are being left behind. This morning, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretrary, said white working class children in particular were some of the least likely to hit these targets. Key figures The proportion of entries receiving the top grades has risen from last year and remains higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 21.9% of entries were awarded grade 7/A or above, up slightly from 21.8% in 2024 and higher than 20.8% in 2019. Some 67.4% of entries received a grade 4/C or above. This is down from 67.6% last year but higher than 67.3% in 2019. The overall rate for grades 1/G or above is 97.9%, unchanged from 2024 and below 98.3% in 2019. This is the lowest 1/G figure for two decades, since 97.8% in 2005. The longstanding lead enjoyed by girls over boys for the top grades has narrowed again. The proportion of total female entries awarded grade 7/A or above was 24.5%, 5.1 percentage points higher than total male entries (19.4%). This is the narrowest lead enjoyed by girls since at least the year 2000, which is the earliest available archive data. Last year, girls led boys by 5.7 percentage points (24.7% girls, 19.0% boys). The gap at grade 4/C has also narrowed. Some 70.5% of all female entries were awarded 4/C or higher, compared with 64.3% for boys, a lead of 6.2 points. This is the narrowest lead for girls at 4/C since at least 2000. Last year the figures were 71.0% for girls and 64.2% for boys, a lead of 6.8 points. Across the regions of England, London saw the highest proportion of entries awarded grades of 7/A or higher. In London it was 28.4%, down from 28.5% in 2024, while north-east England had the lowest (17.8%, unchanged on last year). The gap between these two regions now stands at 10.6 percentage points, down slightly from 10.7 points in 2024. The distribution of top grades varied by UK nation. Some 31.6% of entries in Northern Ireland received 7/A or higher, above the equivalent figure for England (21.8%) and Wales (19.5%). The subject with the most entries this year was the science double award. This has been the case since its introduction in 2018, with a total of 989,264 entries, up 0.9% on 2024. Because this is a double award, each entry for the subject is awarded two grades. Maths remains the subject with the second largest number of entries, with 893,198 this year, up 1.7% on last year. English language ranks third, with 866,023 entries, a rise of 2.4%. Among subjects with more than 100,000 entries, Spanish had the largest percentage increase in entries this year, up 2.6% from 133,395 in 2024 to 136,871 in 2025, overtaking French for the first time. Among subjects with fewer than 100,000 entries, statistics jumped by 9.5%, from 31,844 entries in 2024 to 34,879. Overall, there were 6,160,034 GCSE entries, down by 0.4% on last year's figure of 6,186,879. She said they have been 'let down' as previous analysis shows four fifths of this demographic fall short in the two core subjects. Hundreds of thousands of pupils are travelling to schools today to collect their GCSE results. For all pupils of all demographics, the proportion getting top marks in England is the highest since 2012 outside of the abnormal pandemic years – while for the UK it is the highest in two years. It was good news for boys, who have been behind girls in getting top grades since the 1980s, but narrowed the gap this year. However, the explosion of top grades means competition will be rife for sixth form places, especially at the most selective institutions. Ofqual, the regulator for England, insisted the change was not significant and that results are 'stable'. But critics suggested the results show grade inflation may be making a come-back, following years of attempts to suppress it. Alan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Buckingham, said: 'Top grades are up again, small percentage, but an extra 6,160 on last year and nearly 70,000 more than the 2019 level, even though the education of the young people has been so disrupted. 'It has to be a shift in standards by the exam boards and regulators.' Grade 7 in England is equivalent to the old A, which is still used in other UK nations, which have different systems. Today's figures show the proportion of entries across the UK getting A/7 rose for a second year running by 0.1 percentage point from 21.8 to 21.9. This is not as high as 2023 but is higher than 2019, before the pandemic, when it was 20.8. For England only, grades also rose by 0.1 percentage point from 21.7 to 21.8. Discounting the pandemic years of 2020-2022, when grades were wildly inflated due to teachers deciding marks, this is the highest proportion since 2012. Today's figures, published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), cover GCSE entries from students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Despite the good news for top grades, there was a decrease in those getting the more average grades. The proportion of entries getting at least a 4 or a C grade – considered a 'standard pass' – fell from 67.6 per cent in 2024 to 67.4 pe cent this year – a drop of 0.2 percentage points, but higher than 67.3 percent in 2019. And this year boys made a surprise leap forward having been consistently behind girls since 1989. They are still behind in terms of getting top grades, but the gap them and girls is at the narrowest point this century. Nearly a quarter – 24.5 per cent – of girls' GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 7/A compared to almost a fifth of boys' entries – 19.4 per cent – a 5.1 percentage point gap. This is the narrowest lead enjoyed by girls since at least 2000, which is the earliest archive data available. Meanwhile, 70.5 per cent of girls' GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 4/C compared to 64.3 per cent of boys' entries – a 6.2 percentage point gap. The overall rate for grades 1/G or above is 97.9 per cent, which is the same as 2024 but is down on 98.3 per cent in 2019. Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator at Ofqual, England's exams regulator, said this year's GCSE results are 'stable' in comparison to the past two years – when grading returned to pre-pandemic levels in England. He said the differences this year are 'natural variation' that would be seen between any year. Sir Ian said: 'The standard of work required to achieve a grade seven or a grade four at GCSE is the same this year as it was last year, and what we're seeing is statistically insignificant changes at those key grades from last year to this year. 'That means basically that the underlying pattern, the underlying standard of performance amongst students from last year to this year, is stable.' On the gender gap, Sir Ian added: 'What we see today in the results is a very small apparent narrowing of the gap in performance between boys and girls. 'It's important for people to understand that there is still a gap in the performance of boys and girls, but what we can say is that it doesn't appear to be growing at the moment.' In England, Ofqual brought GCSE grading standards back in line with pre-Covid levels in 2023 and exam regulators in Wales and Northern Ireland returned to pre-pandemic grading last year. The move came after Covid-19 led to an increase in top GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams. Many of the pupils who are receiving their GCSE results this summer were in Year 6 when schools closed because of the pandemic. Education leaders have warned that these pupils, who moved from primary to secondary school in the middle of the pandemic, have faced a series of challenges – including school attendance issues and cost-of-living pressures. Regional figures Here are the percentages of GCSE entries awarded the top grades of 7 or higher, by nation and region, in 2025, with the equivalent figures for 2024 and the pre-pandemic year of 2019: North-east England 17.8% (2024: 17.8%; 2019: 16.4%) North-west England 18.8% (2024: 18.6%; 2019: 18.6%) Yorkshire & the Humber 18.4% (2024: 18.3%; 2019: 17.8%) West Midlands 18.5% (2024: 18.5%; 2019: 18.1%) East Midlands 18.1% (2024: 18.3%; 2019: 18.3%) Eastern England 22.2% (2024: 21.4%; 2019: 20.5%) South-west England 21.4% (2024: 21.2%; 2019: 20.4%) South-east England 24.6% (2024: 24.7%; 2019: 23.5%) London 28.4% (2024: 28.5%; 2019: 25.7%) England 21.8% (2024: 21.7%; 2019: 20.7%) Wales 19.5% (2024: 19.2%; 2019: 18.4%) Northern Ireland 31.6% (2024: 31.0%; 2019: 30.5%) All 21.9% (2024: 21.8%; 2019: 20.8%) Here are the percentages of GCSE entries awarded 4 or higher, by nation and region: North-east England 64.9% (2024: 65.2%; 2019: 63.8%) North-west England 64.2% (2024: 64.2%; 2019: 64.9%) Yorkshire & the Humber 63.6% (2024: 63.9%; 2019: 64.1%) West Midlands 62.9% (2024: 63.1%; 2019: 63.8%) East Midlands 65.0% (2024: 65.1%; 2019: 65.8%) Eastern England 68.0% (2024: 67.9%; 2019: 67.1%) South-west England 69.1% (2024: 69.1%; 2019: 68.3%) South-east England 70.0% (2024: 70.4%; 2019: 70.2%) London 71.6% (2024: 72.5%; 2019: 70.6%) England 67.1% (2024: 67.4%; 2019: 67.1%) Wales 62.5% (2024: 62.2%; 2019: 62.8%) Northern Ireland 83.5% (2024: 82.7%; 2019: 82.2%) All 67.4% (2024: 67.6%; 2019: 67.3%) ADVERTISEMENT Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said this cohort of students had shown 'remarkable resilience' despite the disruption to their education. However, today's data shows just 58.3 per cent of all pupils across the UK passed their maths GCSE this year, down from 59.5 per cent last year to reach the lowest level since 2013. Meanwhile, the pass rate for English dropped 1.7 percentage points to hit 60.2 per cent this summer, matching a previous low for the subject in 2016 and marking the worst result since 2004. Falls in both subjects were driven by a surge in the number of children retaking them and failing aged 17 or over, since pupils that fail are required to resit them if they stay on for sixth form. ADVERTISEMENT Mrs Phillipson warned this morning that failure to ensure children leave school with solid English and maths skills was holding Britain back. She told the Daily Telegraph: 'It's appalling, and I won't stand by and watch those numbers continue to grow. 'It's not just the life chances of those children that are being damaged – it's also the health of our society as a whole. Swathes of human capability and productivity lost. 'While this country is a good place to go to school, good isn't good enough. 'The images on television and the headline statistics we'll see this week mask the reality of a system that works for some children – even most children – but continues to let down tens of thousands more.' Grade 4 is considered a 'standard pass' and most jobs in the UK require this for both English and maths GCSE, although some require a 'strong pass' of grade 5 in the two subjects. The level of pupils failing to obtain a grade 4 in both subjects at GCSE has been steadily climbing for more than a decade, creating an explosion in the number of pupils required to resit them and a high failure rate among these children. Among the 16-year-old population in the UK as a whole, the standard pass rate for English language GCSE was 70.5 per cent this year – down from 71 per cent in 2024. Similarly, the proportion of pupils aged 16 passing their maths GCSE fell slightly to 71.1 per cent this year, down 0.1 percentage points compared to last year. ADVERTISEMENT But the overall rate was significantly squeezed by drastic pass rates among those retaking the subject aged 17 or over. Just 23.1 per cent of pupils who resat their English GCSE this year opened their results this morning to receive a standard pass, with the figure dropping to 18.2 per cent for maths. While the failure rates were broadly similar to 2024, there was a huge surge in the number of children retaking the subjects after failing last summer – up by nearly a fifth for English and by 10.8 per cent for maths. This meant almost 28,000 extra pupils retaking their English language GCSE this year and 21,000 for maths. The figrues will again increase pressure on the Government to re-think the resit system. Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'These students experienced a great deal of disruption earlier in their time at school as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Success for shepherd A young shepherd set the baa high with her GCSE results when she arrived to collect them with her sheep, Kevin. Milly Johnson, 16, who has won awards for sheep-handling, brought along the North Ronaldsay sheep to pick up her results from Tarleton Academy near Preston in Lancashire on Thursday. She said: 'He's my best friend and he comes pretty much everywhere with me.' Milly said the four-year-old rare breed acted as a 'therapy sheep' to calm her exam nerves, and even accompanied her to the school prom, wearing a halter which matched her dress. As well as achieving the grades she was expecting - including two grade 7s and two grade 6s - Milly had another reason to celebrate. She received a phone call on Wednesday night to offer her a veterinary nurse apprenticeship at a farm vets. She and Kevin are also getting ready for the Young Shepherd of the Year competition in November which Milly has qualified for. The family were planning a meal at the pub to celebrate on Thursday night, although Kevin would not be able to join them. Milly joked: 'He's not old enough to drink beer yet.' The teenager regularly shows Kevin and this year won first place in the over-11s young handler's class at the Trawden Agricultural Show. Scott Parker, headteacher at Tarleton, which is part of the Endeavour Learning Trust, said: 'Milly's dedication, both academically and beyond the classroom, is exceptional. 'Her commitment to her interests and her ability to balance them alongside her studies speaks volumes about her character, work ethic and maturity. 'She is a fantastic role model for her peers and I've no doubt at all that she has a bright future ahead.' ADVERTISEMENT 'Schools strained every sinew to support those who have needed additional help to catch up and to tackle the lingering impact of the pandemic on attendance rates. However, it has not been easy, and the previous government did not put enough investment or focus into educational recovery. ADVERTISEMENT 'Disadvantaged students were often those most severely affected by the disruption of Covid and that has made it even more difficult to close gaps in educational attainment caused by socioeconomic factors. 'Those gaps are reflected in regional disparities evident once again in this year's results. 'Once again we see that the majority of students who retake GCSE English and maths in post-16 education under a government policy of mandatory resits continue to fall short of a grade 4 standard pass. 'It is utterly demoralising for these young people and there has to be a better way of supporting literacy and numeracy.' Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said the current GCSE resit policy is 'not fit for purpose'. He added: 'NAHT has long called for reform of the current policy that forces students into repeated resits, which is demotivating and ineffective. 'What is needed are more appropriate and engaging alternatives to GCSEs in English and maths at KS4.' While traditional A*-G grades are used in Northern Ireland and Wales, in England these have been replaced with a 9-1 system, where 9 is the highest. A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade and a 7 is broadly equivalent to an A. In England, many students who do not secure at least a grade 4 – which is considered a 'standard pass' – in English and/or maths GCSE are required to retake the subjects during post-16 education. Overall UK entries for GCSEs have dropped slightly – down 0.4 per cent on 2024, according to JCQ data. ADVERTISEMENT A breakdown of the data shows that while 16-year-olds still make up the vast majority of students taking GCSEs, entries from this group are down 1.4 per cent on last year. Entries from students aged 17 and over are up 12.1 per cent to 482,402 compared with 430,377 in 2024. Education leaders have called for the Government's policy of compulsory resits in the two subjects at GCSE to be scrapped. Jill Duffy, chief executive of OCR exam board, said: 'Nearly a quarter of GCSE maths and English entries are resits. This is an all-time high. 'Less than a fifth of resitting students achieved the grade 4 they need to break out of the resit cycle. This is a resit crisis. 'Tinkering at the edges of policy won't fix this. We need fundamental reform to maths and English secondary education – especially at Key Stage 3 – to support those who fall behind in these crucial subjects.' She added of the gender gap: 'Boys are slowly catching up with girls, but the GCSE attainment gap remains significant.' More than 360,500 Level 1 and 2 vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) results have also been awarded to pupils. Grade inflation was rife during the New Labour years, when officials repeatedly insisted that pupils genuinely were getting cleverer every year. The proportion of top grades rose every single year between 2002 and 2011. However, after the Tories won the election in 2010 they instructed Ofqual to make sure the proportion getting these top grades remained roughly the same each year. ADVERTISEMENT This is adjusted slightly for the ability of each cohort, which is measured by sample tests earlier in the year. Roughly one in five have got A/7 grades over the last 15 years, but the pandemic frustrated the regulator's efforts because teacher assessment led to massive grade inflation. While grades have now been brought back down they are still higher than before the disruption. This morning's results also show Ireland's pupils performed better than other nations, part of a long-term trend. In terms of top grades, 31.6 per cent of students achieved at least a 7 or an A grade and above, compared to 31.0 per cent last year. Experts have previously attributed the trend to the fact that the nation has retained the grammar school system. In England, there are only 161 left, as most either turned into comprehensives or private schools over the course of successive Governments. The dismantling of England's grammar school system was due to criticism that selecting at 11 is unfair. However critics have said it has led to an erosion of standards. From warzone to straight 9 grades for brave Ukraine pupil Terrified and traumatised, Liza Minenko spent two weeks hiding in their basement in Kyiv before fleeing the Ukraine war with her family and pet dog Daisy. Arriving in the UK, she was lucky enough to be awarded a full scholarship at the prestigious £45,000-a-year Brighton College. Now, just three years later, she is celebrating after scooping seven grade 9s and one grade 8 in her GCSEs. ADVERTISEMENT It is an astonishing feat for the 16-year-old who was also given a special award for achieving 100 per cent in her Art GSCE. After being awarded a full 120 per cent scholarship, Liza threw herself into college life while making sure the war was in the forefront of everyone's minds. She and her family are hoping recent talks of peace will come to fruition and they will be able to return to their home. Liza was one of 23 Ukrainian boys and girls given free places at Brighton College, including her siblings. Liza said she was delighted with her results but said the the war in Ukraine was never far from her thoughts. She said: 'You need a lot of strength to live in a country that is in a state of war. You also need a lot of strength when you have to leave behind your home country and everything and everyone you know. 'We need to keep reminding people that there is still a devastating conflict happening in our home country.' After opening her results she said: 'I was nervous, but I am happy. I have mixed feelings. I want to go back to Ukraine but we are all really scared to go back to Kyiv. I haven't seen my grandparents for years since the start of the war.' The family lived in their basement in Kyiv for two weeks at the start of the war and were traumatised. They travelled across Europe along with their dog Daisy and finally made it to the UK. ADVERTISEMENT Liza's mother Luda Zburzhynska said: 'The war forced our family, like so many Ukrainians, to leave our home. We came to England for our children's education. 'But at the same time, it led us to Brighton College. This amazing school has become more than just an educational institution to us – it has been a place where we felt humanity, acceptance and warmth.' Liza hopes to go on and do well in the future and will be staying at Brighton College to complete her A Levels. Head Master, Steve Marshall-Taylor said: 'Among so much of which we can be proud today, this wonderful individual story shines brightly and highlights the privilege we have to play a small part in moments such as this.' Brighton College was quick to react when the war in Ukraine started, reaching out to the community to offer 23 scholarships, plus the support needed by these young refugees arriving into the UK, many of them alone. Following their record-breaking A-level achievements last week, pupils at Brighton College are once again celebrating — this time with the school's best-ever GCSE results. An astonishing 98 per cent of all grades were at 9–7 (A*–A), including 62 per cent at grade 9, and 89 per cent at grade 8-9 (A* equivalent). In total, pupils secured 1,300 grade 9s, with 59 pupils achieving a clean sweep of 9 or more grade 9s.
The National
30 minutes ago
- The National
Foreign Office summons Israeli ambassador over illegal settlements
Earlier this week, the Israeli government gave final approval for an illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups say could destroy plans for a future Palestinian state. Announcing the approval, Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said it "finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no-one to recognise". READ MORE: Scottish council bans arms testing in public parks In recent weeks, the UK and several other western countries have announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel meets certain conditions, including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and reviving the prospect of a two-state solution. Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely was summoned to the Foreign Office on Thursday in response to the settlement plans, which are widely considered by the international community to be illegal. Tzipi Hotovely pictured with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Image: Wikipedia Creative Commons) The Labour Government has previously been urged to expel Hotovely from the UK, most recently in regards to Israel's plan to take over Gaza City. On Thursday, Palestinians were seen fleeing as Israel began the first stages of a planned assault on Gaza City, with Israeli troops establishing a foothold on the outskirts of the city after days of intense bombing and artillery fire. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "Today, the Ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom was summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. "Her Excellency Tzipi Hotovely was summoned in response to the Israeli Higher Planning Committee's decision to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area, East of Jerusalem. READ MORE: Labour 'close to signing' major £2bn contract with Israel's largest weapons firm "The UK and 21 international partners have written to condemn this decision in the strongest terms. If implemented, these settlement plans would be a flagrant breach of international law and would divide a future Palestinian state in two, critically undermining a two-state solution." A petition to expel the ambassador from the UK has reached 194,292 signatures as of Thursday. Hotovely has repeatedly rejected the notion of a two-state solution and once called the Nakba – when 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced and more than 500 Palestinian cities, towns and villages were destroyed by Israel in 1948 during the country's formation – an "Arab lie". She was last summoned to the Foreign Office in May, when the UK Government called off negotiations with the Israeli government on a new free trade deal.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Skye wind farm fight shows Scotland's national injustice over energy
Good evening! This week's edition of the In Common newsletter comes from Craig Dalzell, head of policy and research at Common Weal. I WAS up in Skye this week to give one of my regular talks to activists and campaign groups around Scotland. It's one of the aspects of my role at Common Weal that I enjoy the most, even though it often means a lot of travelling. I'm very grateful to my hosts for not just organising the meeting but also putting me up for the night. The evening was organised by the Breakish Windfarm Action Group who are currently concerned by plans for a large wind farm development on a visually prominent part of the island. The estate owner, Lady Lucilla Noble, stands to profit massively from the site as will the Swedish developers Arise – while tenant farmers are likely to see their livelihoods disrupted and restricted on what has been up till now land held as common grazings. They asked me to give a broader overview of how and why this is happening in Scotland and I duly prepared a presentation based around our proposals for how Scotland can publicly own our energy generation despite the Scottish Government's excuse that 'it's reserved'. READ MORE: SNP under fire over public energy firm as Welsh Labour launch wind projects Shortest possible version: It's only reserved if we want Government ministers to own the energy. If we allow local authorities or communities to own it, it's perfectly possible. It could even be funded in the same way. The only 'downside' is that the Scottish Government wouldn't get to control it (See Common Weal's policy paper 'How to own Scottish energy' for more details). What I heard during the night though had both myself and my partner shaking our heads in disbelief. The story in Skye is that a landowner has contracted with a foreign company to extract vast profit from the resources of Scotland over the objections of the local community, without adequately compensating or benefiting said community. This happened while obfuscating the planning process and making it as difficult as possible for the community to 'properly' object as processes such as environmental studies and public inquiries cost tens to hundreds of thousands of pounds to complete – trivial amounts for the corporations but far beyond the reach of ordinary people to compete with. Everyone involved fully expects that even if the community is able to punch above its weight in terms of negotiating and bargaining power, Scottish ministers will just override any objections because the Government's primary goals are to make the Scottish GDP line go up by means of encouraging 'inwards investment' – if doing that pushes climate goals too, then they suppose that's fine too. Former Tory councillor Ross Lambie has defected to Reform UK (Image: Reform UK) This is precisely the same story that is happening in my village, where a French company is negotiating with a local land owner to build a massive solar farm and battery park. Just about the only thing that differs are the names of some of the people (and even then only some of them. It turns out that Ross Lambie, one of the local councillors for the ward I live in and who sits on our local Planning Committee, is an absentee landlord bidding to use some land he owns in Skye to host temporary housing for the construction workers being shipped in to install the turbines). We're not the only two communities facing this. Scotland is awash with largely foreign capital flooding places with applications for developments that even at their best won't benefit communities nearly as much as they should (the £5000 per Megawatt of community benefit funding that some of these developments offer is a shadow of the 30 to 100 times as much local revenue retained by full community ownership). Local planning offices report being completely overwhelmed trying to properly scrutinise applications and that goes double for areas with active community councils where volunteer councillors are expected to scrutinise highly technical documents without the resources to do so. Scottish ministers are far too prone to allow projects to move up to the Energy Consents Unit to ensure that they can make the decisions – overriding local democracy as they do so – but this just concentrates the problem further. The ECU is similarly overwhelmed with more than 4500 projects having been passed to them since December 2018. An average of almost two new applications per day. Ministers could not be expected to properly scrutinise these projects even if it was their only full-time job. READ MORE: Scottish estate's £145 million sale sparks concerns over 'opaque' ownership And what happens if a dodgy developer does, by chance or fortune, get their application denied or made conditional to the point that they decide the profit margins aren't high enough? Well, they just resubmit the application and try again or move on to the next community and hope they can't pay as much attention. Communities need to be lucky every time. Corporations only need to get lucky once. I'm not against renewable energy as a rule. We need more of it. What I'm asking for is for the Scottish Government to start abiding by its own party-approved policies. We need a Scottish Energy Development Agency (SEDA) to start producing a proper strategic map of Scotland. A map not just of where Scotland's renewable resources are but where our actual demand is too. The overflow of development without coordination (compounded by frankly idiotic policies from Westminster such as blocking policies like zonal pricing) is leading to millions of pounds of consumer's money being paid to energy generators in constraint payments. Wind turbines already generate profit almost for free once they're built – the only way to make them more profitable for the multinationals and foreign public energy companies who own them is for them to make the profit without even generating the energy. In addition to the SEDA we urgently need the Scottish Government to stop its opposition to public ownership of energy and to start allowing Scottish communities to be the owners of these developments. Communities have been left alone to fight each application individually when it turns out that they are all facing the same spin everywhere. I am very happy to see that communities are increasingly banding together – such as the 9CC group in Ayrshire or the recent conference of Community Councils in Inverness – but it's clear that these groups themselves need support to start talking together, across local authority lines. Maybe that's what it'll take for ministers to start paying proper attention. Maybe the next conference has to happen outside Holyrood itself. The injustice of situations like where I live, or in Skye, or in hundreds of other communities is going to seriously harm public support for the renewable transition that we need. I'm not against renewable energy. I am against being screwed over by the people who own it. I'm against the injustice of communities not being given a stake in that transition and being told that their voice is irrelevant or a nuisance. But if my experience this week in Skye tells me anything, it's that communities are ready to make that voice exactly as loud as it needs to be, especially as the elections approach. I hope ministers will be listening. Or that their replacements might be.
