Russian Delegation Visits The Highlands

A delegation of Russian officials visited The Highland Council headquarters in Inverness today as part of a fact finding tour of the Highlands.

The group, from Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of the Russian Federation, came to discover first hand how devolution of local government works in Scotland and to find out more about how the Council and its partners go about delivering decentralised services. Their area in Russia is currently going through the process of decentralisation and last month the administration and territorial structure was changed to increase the municipalities from 29 to 222.

This is the second study visit to Scotland. The first visit last year to Edinburgh looked at the relationship between the UK Government and the Scottish Executive. This year’s visit was to look at policy delivery at the more local and practical level, to see how community based services are delivered in partnership and how disadvantaged areas can be regenerated.

The group arrived in the Highlands on Monday and spent two days on Skye speaking to providers of community care, representatives from business community and the local enterprise company and visiting projects including the Glendale Village Hall, the AROS Centre and the local community radio station.

On Wednesday the group visited Strathpeffer to meet with The Highland Council’s Economy and Europe Manager, Andy McCann, Scott Armstrong fromVisitScotland and Clive Sheppard from HIE. The group learned about the processes of local government, the restructuring of the tourist board and how it works with other public organisations and the importance of the social economy in the Highlands. In the evening the Provost of Inverness and the Council Convener Alison Magee hosted a civic reception for the visitors in Inverness Town House.

The group spent this morning with officials of The Highland Council learning about how local policy and the budget for the Council is set and hearing examples of good practice in relation to community planning, partnership working, the regeneration of deprived areas and social inclusion.

In the afternoon they meet up with some pupils and education staff who gave a presentation on vocational learning, business development and the Determined To Succeed project. Tomorrow the group return to Edinburgh before flying back home to Russia.