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That follows on from the discussion that we had last week, when we talked about the national islands plan. A lot of cross-Government work goes on, particularly by islands officials, that relates to that. I was in Shetland the other week and similar issues were raised. We liaise with our colleagues across Government to ensure that we tackle those issues as best we can.

There are currently no spatially explicit measures in the national marine plan. However, with regard to our marine planning, the measures that are outlined in the national planning framework 4 and our regional marine plans all look to develop that spatial planning further.

We are developing a new national marine plan: NMP2. I believe that there will be a national planning forum meeting on that in the next month so that stakeholders can feed into that process. That specific spatial ask is being considered as part of the work that is being taken forward in relation to NMP2. Annabel Turpie might want to add some further information.

In the engagement that I have had, I have certainly met a lot of passionate people in each of their sectors, who all greatly value and know the importance of the sustainability of the stocks that they fish and catch—

You are absolutely right that we have used biennial closures, and this will be the second closure that we have had. We had a consultation in the lead-up to the previous closure, so we will undertake another consultation. I cannot give a definitive timescale for that yet, but we are looking to do it soon. We will continue to keep the committee updated on that.

I want to be clear that we will absolutely do that engagement. There have been frustrations about the pace that the bill has moved at. We have been trying to get answers to those questions so that we can get the correct processes in place. As far as I am aware, those discussions are on-going. George Burgess may have more information.

I can give a quick assurance that that will be part of the consultation. We will be looking to announce that and take those licensing proposals forward in the coming weeks.

That is why what Francesco Sindico highlighted is so important. The challenges must be identified and a baseline picture must be built so that we have something to monitor against. I hope that you can understand that from what is set out in the work on that strategic objective, where you can see the five different projects that have been undertaken. None of them is quick or necessarily easy to do, but they ensure that we are continuing to progress that objective. The project on the existing data indicators framework is trying to see what existing indicators we can use to monitor the framework. All those projects are about ensuring that we are getting the baseline data that will help us to do this effectively.

As Erica Clarkson just outlined, on the basis of the feedback that we had, we worked on the guidance and refreshed it last year. Obviously, the onus is on the 71 relevant authorities that are in the schedule and that must undertake island communities impact assessments. Therefore, the focus has been on how they undertake that work and on ensuring that they meaningfully engage with people who will be impacted by the policies.

I am happy to outline that, but it is important to remember that all the commitments have either been fulfilled or are on-going. With some of the commitments, it will not simply be a case of ticking them off, because they will be on-going. Some of the strategic objectives and projects that are under way—for example, those under objective 11, which relates to arts, heritage and culture—will be things that we will continue to do. Some of the commitments in relation to that area and to others will be on-going instead of being completely fulfilled.

As for progress from last year, we have fulfilled an additional five commitments. Some key areas of progress can be found, for example, under strategic objective 12 and the commitments that we have set out on the young islanders network. I was happy to be able to launch that network last summer, in Orkney, and we have seen its development. It has been great to see the young islanders joining and featuring in our national islands plan delivery group. As part of that, they also feature on the islands programme investment panel. It has been really great to see the development of that network and how it has continued to grow and increase its engagement.

Another commitment that we have fulfilled is on the islands passport, which has been launched and which the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership is continuing to monitor. There are also a few commitments in relation to national planning framework 4, which is now being implemented. The commitments that we have made in the national islands plan in recognition of our island communities have been recognised in that framework, too.

We should also not forget the islands programme itself. I was proud to announce the 13 projects that had been successful in the programme funding round that was launched earlier this year. I think that you can see from the commitments that we have set out and the implementation route map that goes alongside them that an awful lot of work is going on, but we have fulfilled some commitments, based on where we were last year.

I am happy to take any feedback on that. As you say, and as we have also highlighted today, we have already reviewed the guidance on the basis of feedback about how we undertake the assessments. We are constantly trying to make improvements wherever we can.