Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Ninth Report


Conclusions and recommendations

Transport

  1. We recommend that the internal review of statutory walking distances be extended to a public consultation with a deadline for implementation of a new system. We urge the Government to overhaul radically the current arrangements. A new system should be based on an assessment of safety issues and the real alternatives to walking and not just crudely based on distance from school. Defra and DfES should ensure that the particular needs of rural areas are taken into account. (Paragraph 16)

  1. There is clearly scope for innovation in the area of home-to-school transport. Given this, we were disappointed by Defra's relative lack of involvement in finding solutions. We were also surprised that the Countryside Agency's recent report on Transport in Tomorrow's Countryside makes little reference to education transport. We believe that Defra should be involved at a local level with LEAs to bring together resources and implement innovative transport schemes which, where successful, can be replicated in different parts of the country. Defra should identify and fund solutions which would meet the needs of families in rural communities. The aim of these schemes should be to reduce reliance on cars and enable all school pupils to take part in out-of-school activities. (Paragraph 19)
  2. Defra should examine the lessons of the Wheels to Work Scheme and fund a similar scheme which would develop innovative transport solutions for post-16 students in isolated rural areas. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We welcome the steps that the Government has taken to improve transport provision for the 16-19 age group. We particularly welcome the national extension of the Educational Maintenance Allowance and believe that, when introduced, the allowance will help students in rural areas with the additional costs of travel to school and college. (Paragraph 0)

  1. Defra has a key role in monitoring the effect of the various government initiatives and pilot projects to help post-16 students attend school and college. We recommend that Defra publish examples of good practice by LEAs in rural areas, and also identify those LEAs where students are prevented from attending school and college because of poor transport provision. (Paragraph 0)

Information and Communications Technology

  1. We welcome the Government's commitment to ensuring all schools have a broadband connection by 2006. We also welcome the fact that many witnesses believe that this target will be met. We recommend that the DfES publish regular updates showing progress towards the target. It should ensure that separate figures for urban and rural areas are collected and published. (Paragraph 0)
  2. We recommend that an assessment be made of the additional costs of providing good IT systems in rural schools. Defra should take the lead in assessing whether the additional money for rural schools made available through the sparsity factor adequately reflects these additional costs, and should publish its findings. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We recommend that the DfES consider the extent to which satellite broadband technology can increase the rate at which rural schools are being provided with a broadband connection. We also recommend that the Government assess how broadband connections to rural schools might be exploited by the rural community more generally. (Paragraph 0)

  1. Defra should be taking a lead role in monitoring the implementation of broadband in rural schools and the opportunities this offers to rural communities. Again we are disappointed that its role appears to be largely tangential. (Paragraph 0)

Supporting and enhancing schools

  1. We urge the Government to continue to provide grants to LEAs which support collaborative projects between small schools. The potential benefits of clustering should be explored as widely as possible across the age and ability range. The Government should support clustering and publicise examples of good practice from LEAs. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We do not believe there is any substantiated evidence that small rural schools necessarily offer either a better or worse standard of education than larger urban ones. Generalisations about the relative performance of small and large schools should therefore be avoided. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We welcome the Government's policy of a presumption against closure of rural schools and the associated fall in the number of rural schools which have closed. (Paragraph 0)

  1. Defra should take the lead in ensuring that there is consistency in government policies related to rural schools. We recommend that Defra work with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to revise the best value framework so that LEAs do not face pressure to reduce surplus places by closing small, rural schools that are viable. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We agree that decisions about whether small rural schools remain viable should be based primarily on educational considerations and policy should be led by DfES. Nevertheless, Defra should play a role in dealing with the effects of closure on rural communities. We recommend that Defra work closely with LEAs to monitor school rolls in rural areas and publish a report identifying those areas most at risk. Defra should work with the relevant LEAs and the DfES over decisions about school closures, provide assistance, where appropriate, to maintain village schools, and work with local authorities to support communities where schools are closed. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We welcome the extended schools initiative and support the Government's vision of the rural school as the hub of the local community. We are also reassured by the fact that of the 25 Pathfinder projects, six are based in rural areas: Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Durham, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Northumberland. We remain concerned, however, that the use of the deprivation index to identify the most disadvantaged areas for future funding may limit the extent to which the initiative reaches rural areas. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We urge the Government to consider the needs of rural areas carefully as it prepares the extended schools policy and to ensure that rurality is a positive criterion for qualifying for available funds. (Paragraph 0)

Further education

  1. We recommend that the Government fund a number of projects in rural areas which seek to enhance the role of further education colleges within the local community. The Government should learn the lessons of such projects and consider broadening the scope of its extended schools initiative to facilitate an enhanced community role for further education colleges in rural areas. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We recommend that Defra establish mechanisms by which local Learning and Skills Councils, LEAs and providers co-ordinate their work to ensure that the educational needs of rural communities and the rural economy are being met. Particular attention should be paid to enhancing co-operation between school sixth forms and further education colleges so that students in rural areas can be provided with a wide range of educational opportunities. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We believe it is indefensible that there are no published figures on take-up and retention of students on courses of further education and training, broken down by rural and urban areas. This is despite the fact that Defra's Service Delivery Agreement contains a target to "increase the proportion of 16 and 17 year olds living in rural areas taking up further education and training through the programmes of Learning and Skills Councils". Defra should publish the current position, indicate what it intends to do to improve participation and retention rates in rural areas, and state by what date it expects to see a demonstrable improvement. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We recommend that the Learning and Skills Council and Defra work together to assess the extent of any correlation between sparsity and the costs of providing further education and training. Defra should ensure that there is a clear definition of rurality for this purpose, based on the work currently being carried out by the Countryside Agency, and, if necessary, collect sufficient data to complete the analysis. (Paragraph 0)

Joined-up government

  1. We urge the DfES to continue to encourage the establishment of Sure Start programmes in rural areas. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We recommend that the DfES commission research into problems of social exclusion, special educational needs and non-attendance in rural areas. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We welcome the work of the Countryside Agency in supporting Lincolnshire's Rural Academy. This is the type of project where we would expect an Executive Agency of a department for rural affairs to be playing a key role. Unfortunately, it is a rare example. We recommend that Defra support the creation of rural academies in other rural areas. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We recommend that the DfES' Rural Schools Group publish an annual report which sets out the issues it considered and the action taken as a result of its work. (Paragraph 0)

Role of Defra

  1. If Defra has a role in contributing towards the Government's vision of vibrant rural communities, we believe it has to maintain some presence in those areas or at least have mechanisms in place for monitoring what is happening there. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We have highlighted three areas in this report where we believe a department for rural affairs should be playing a key role: transport; schools and colleges as community resources; and broadband and ICT. These are all policy areas which cross Government Departments and would benefit from a single entity taking a lead on behalf of rural areas. We found little evidence of Defra playing a significant role on any of these issues. (Paragraph 0)

  1. We recommend that a section of Defra's website be devoted to work within its rural affairs remit. It should contain details of the way Defra has represented the interests of rural areas on particular issues to other policy makers within government. It should also include reports on how effectively Government policies have been delivered in rural areas. This would go some way towards improving Defra's accountability in relation to its rural affairs remit. It would also provide an excellent example of open government. (Paragraph 0)

  1. Most of our recommendations to Defra in this Report relate to monitoring and reporting on the effect of education policy in rural areas. We are surprised and disappointed that Defra is not carrying out this work already. It is the least that a department for rural affairs should be doing if it is genuinely to represent the interests of rural areas. We believe this work should only be the start. Defra and its agencies could contribute to innovative solutions to the problems and issues facing rural areas which its monitoring work has highlighted. Only then will it truly be fulfilling its mandate - as reflected in its title - to be a department for rural affairs. (Paragraph 0)



 
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