Review of strategy
18.Section 4(1) requires the Scottish Ministers to keep the strategy under review and, if they consider appropriate, revise the strategy as required. This provision recognises that flexibility must be supported when establishing a long term strategy for the purposes of ensuring the necessary evolution of the strategy in anticipation of or in response to unforeseeable developments and the likely technological, societal, economic and political changes that may occur. Section 4(1) is therefore intended to ensure that the strategy remains fit for purpose, and the reporting obligations in section 5 will assist Ministers in evaluating the strategy’s ongoing fitness for purpose.
19.In accordance with section 4(2), sections 1(2) to (5), 2(1), and 3 regarding the content, consultation, publication and laying of the strategy before Parliament apply to any process of revision under section 4(1).