Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Association of Colleges (T21(a))
With regard to the supplementary information
you requested:
— Unfortunately AoC does not hold national
figures on student take-up and retention rates in urban and rural
areas and we are not aware of any published figures. This is due
to the difficulties in defining urban or rural areas.
— NAPAEO state in their report "The
Current and Potential Contribution of Land Based Colleges",
which formed part of our written evidence to the Sub-Committee,
that there are over 6,500 residential beds. However, there are
a number of other colleges with residential provision and we estimate
the total to be about 10,000 beds.
— I have enclosed David Lawrence's
summary of the funding and operation of the multi-agency project
in Norfolk.
AoC is grateful for the opportunity to give
evidence and looks forward to seeing the Committee's report.
11 April 2003
Annex
Easton College and the Norfolk Rural Business
Advice Service
NOTE FOR HOUSE OF COMMONS ENVIRONMENT, FOOD
AND RURAL AFFAIRS SUB-COMMITTEE
Norfolk has operated an economic development
partnership since 1996. The partnership includes the County Council
all District Councils, Business Link Norfolk, employers and the
colleges. Agriculture and the Food Industry were identified as
key sectors of the Norfolk economy by the partnership. The industry
groups responsible for these two sectors have subsequently merged
to become the Rural Economy Board for Norfolk.
At an early stage the groups (which are made
up of industry, key public sector partners and community interests
where appropriate) decided that it was inappropriate to in any
way tell the industry what to do. The emphasis needed to be on
identifying and overcoming hurdles and providing support. In 1999
it was decided that one of the most effective forms of support
we could provide would be through advice to both farmers and public
sector partners. Easton College undertook to develop and manage
the service on behalf of all the partners.
NORFOLK RURAL
BUSINESS ADVICE
SERVICE
The service has the following mission:
To prepare Norfolk farming and other rural businesses
to embrace change.
Its key activities are:
— Provision of direct independent professional
support to individual farming and other rural businesses.
— Provision of independent professional
advice and support to public and private sector partners directly
involved in supporting farming and other rural businesses.
— Developing skills and understanding
to enable continued competitiveness for farming and other rural
businesses.
At the start we employed one adviser and through
a partnership with Business Link Norfolk there are now some six
consultants/advisers working with farmers and rural businesses.
From the start we saw this project as providing
advice that would enable businesses to make progress. We expected
to help particularly those who either were not well equipped to
help themselves or had projects that would be of significance
to the county either in terms of value to the economy/jobs or
as exemplars. We also expected to assist a number to exit the
industry. One of the major hurdles to effective diversification
we identified early on was planning. The advisory service was
a key element in dealing with this issue, providing specialist
advice to planners/local authorities on rural issues. The local
authorities have been funding partners along with the County Council
and this has given a motivation to use this support. We think
this has made a substantial impact on how a number of diversification
projects have developed.
The advice service has looked at a wide range
of business opportunities/diversifications at a variety of scales.
Examples include: barn conversions, farm shops, vermiculture,
marketing schemes, holiday cottages, equestrian developments,
essential oils, bio fuels and crop processing amongst many others.
The project incorporated the work of the Business
Link Farm Business Advisory Service in Norfolk when this funding
became available. The service provides additional support as necessary
to take projects to a conclusion after initial appraisal using
the FBAS framework. Support is provided for as long as necessary
to support the development and implementation of the project.
The advisory service also incorporates the work
of the ADER project in Norfolk. (This project is a partnership
between the five colleges offering land based education and training
in East Anglia, working with the East of England Development Agency
and various trade/industry organisations. The project concentrates
on developing innovative approaches to the development of training
and mentoring for diversification of farm businesses.) In Norfolk
this project is currently developing a series of case study based
training programmes to develop wider business skills for rural
businesses. So far a programme on marketing has been run using
case studies drawn from projects assisted by the advisory service,
advisory service advisors to deliver training input and the Business
Link Business Information Centre for market research. The programme
will extend to all key aspects of business operation and management
over time.
Indicators of project success to date could
be summarised as follows:
— In excess of 240 farmers assisted.
— £445,000 of Rural Enterprise
Scheme Grant aid received through projects assisted by our advisers,
with a further £75,000 in the process of consideration.
— Some 33 jobs have been created/protected
as a result of these projects.
— Total grants received by assisted
projects £685,000 (these include Countryside Stewardship
and Redundant Farm Building Grants).
— Total assisted project value including
private sector contribution now exceeds £1.6 million.
The project aims to work with and encourage
the sharing of good practice between the private sector advisors/support
sector and during this year a Professional Forum will be established
to provide a framework for this debate and information sharing.
The college has reconfigured its teaching departments
to ensure both maximum benefit from the advisory work is gained
in mainstream teaching and maximum support is provided in terms
of focussed training for industry.
The project is still very much developing but
we see a great potential for the interaction between education,
advice and research and strong public sector partnership, in developing
an effective local response to rural regeneration.
David Lawrence
Principal, Easton College
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