Memorandum submitted by the Countryside
Agency (V19)
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1 The Countryside Agency welcomes the
Secretary of State's Rural Strategy 2004 and is committed to playing
a major role in translating the strategy into action.
1.2 Much of the Agency's successful demonstration
work will be mainstreamed, with regional development agencies,
Government Offices and others, such as rural community councils,
taking it forward. After primary legislation about half the Agency
will transfer into a new integrated agency for landscape, recreation
and nature, providing a better joined-up service for farmers and
countryside users alike. In addition, a refocused "new countryside
agency" with strong backing from the Secretary of State will
be set up as expert adviser, rural advocate and independent watchdog
on behalf of rural communities with a particular focus on disadvantage.
1.3 The Rural Strategy represents a 50 year
landmark in some aspects. Since the 1940s, nature conservation
and landscape protection have been the responsibility of separate
agencies. But a joined-up approach to habitats and landscapes
is essential if the nation is to achieve nature conservation and
land management in a way that people can get out and enjoy. By
adding in administration of the new incentives for farmers under
the reformed Common Agricultural Policy, we will see a body that
can better deliver a countryside that everyone can value and that
contributes to sustainable development across all of England.
1.4 At the same time, the decision to mainstream
the Agency's socio-economic demonstration programmes is a positive
outcome from the Government's spending decisions in the 2000 Rural
White Paper. To date, over half of all rural parishes have invested
in their own future with our help—through nearly 1,000 parish
plans, over 1,100 improvements in community service provision,
and over 1,000 improvements in rural public and community transport—and
demonstrated real benefits to rural communities. Now local authorities,
regional development agencies, rural community councils and government
more generally need to turn our initial demonstration into mainstream
practice for a sustainable development future.
1.5 The Rural Strategy represents a refocusing
of policy and delivery for rural communities and the countryside.
It is a challenging agenda and the strengthening of the Countryside
Agency's core role as rural advocate, expert adviser and independent
watchdog into a new agency is central to achieving the strategy's
desired outcomes. The Government must ensure that its policies
meet the needs of rural communities and people, especially those
suffering disadvantage. We will give Parliament and people assurance
that the strategy works for rural communities. It was a bold decision
by the Deputy Prime Minister to establish the Countryside Agency
as a statutory body at arm's length and charge it not only to
demonstrate what could be done but to report on progress by the
Government in addressing the needs of rural areas. Provided that
its statutory position is maintained, a "new countryside
agency" will be able to continue that work, and with greater
respect for its objectivity once it is no longer in a position
of reporting on its own delivery programmes.
1.6 The "new countryside agency"
will be advocate, expert adviser and independent watchdog:
— as rural advocate acting as a strong
and independent voice for rural people and communities, especially
those suffering disadvantage;
— as expert adviser providing well-grounded,
expert advice to government and others on the needs and well-being
of rural communities and the countryside, from a sustainable development
perspective; and
— as independent watchdog giving assurance
to Parliament, government and people that policies and delivery
on the ground are meeting needs and providing measurable benefits.
1.7 The Rural Strategy rightly focuses on
the need to give particular attention to addressing the needs
of and improving delivery to disadvantaged rural areas, but it
will be equally important to address the needs of disadvantaged
people in the more prosperous areas of the countryside and to
ensure social justice for all rural communities and businesses.
How policies are delivered locally has a major impact on those
who live and work in rural areas. The increased devolution of
delivery and implementation of policies to regional and local
level makes it even more important that rural proofing[1]
is embedded at all levels of government—national, regional
and local. In the "new countryside agency", we will
be working to help them "think rural" and monitoring
the effectiveness of rural policies.
2. OVERALL CONCERNS
2.1 Against this general welcome, the Countryside
Agency has concerns which should be taken into account in the
implementation stages:
(i) Separation of delivery agencies under
social, economic and environmental goals could make it more difficult
to achieve sustainable development. Much will depend on delivering
continuing integration of those goals at national levels among
government departments, and among all the national agencies with
responsibilities that touch on rural areas. At regional level,
the Government Offices face a significant challenge in their task
of encouraging an alignment of the policies and operations of
national, regional and local bodies to deliver sustainable development
goals in the countryside. The NCA will have an important watchdog
role, looking at the impact of policy integration translated into
experience on the ground from the perspective of rural people,
businesses and places.
(ii) Devolution of delivery to regional and
sub-regional bodies is welcome but a great deal of work is needed
to clarify the roles and responsibilities between bodies, whether
in the Defra family or wider—as seen from the perspective
of rural people and businesses.
(iii) Time is needed for regional and sub-regional
bodies to establish their new roles, re-organise and manage internal
change. There is a risk of a hiatus, that much good work will
be lost and that rural areas may suffer during this implementation
period.
(iv) The Strategy is significantly silent
on the role of local authorities in achieving rural progress,
whether in their own right or in working with town and parish
councils (see evidence on question 3 below).
(v) The Rural Strategy is not recognisable
as a strategy in the way that the Cabinet Office recommends as
good practice. It is insufficiently clear what it is trying to
achieve and there are no measurable outcomes or priorities. The
Strategy needs to set the scene, be clear about the hard choices
which have been made and give a clear context for policy-makers,
deliverers and customers against which everything else can be
judged.
(vi) The Strategy makes clear that the NCA
will need to establish close relations with the rural communities
for whom it will be expected to provide a strong voice to government.
At the same time the NCA will not have a regional presence although
it will need to engage with regional and local players.
(vii) The Strategy also suggests that, in
due course, the NCA should move to a lagging rural region to be
closer to its constituency. However, the NCA will also need to
work closely with government and policy-makers nationally. How
and where the NCA will operate and be located will need to be
looked at carefully, both from the point of view of having easy
access to both government and policy-makers and its constituents,
how it can do the job it has been given most effectively while
providing good value for money.
3. THE COMMITTEE'S
QUESTIONS
The Countryside Agency also wishes to respond
to the four areas that the Committee intend to consider.
Question 1: the proposal to establish an integrated
agency
(i) The Board welcomes the proposal for a
Bill to create an integrated agency and looks forward to playing
a key role in the development of the new organisation.
(ii) The Countryside Agency welcomes the
move away from a site-specific approach to a landscape approach.
This will allow the relevant organisations concerned with particular
elements of the environment to work better within a sustainable
development framework (see introductory section of this note).
(iii) It is important that the future integrated
agency is more than simply a sum of the parts of the current organisations.
The Countryside Agency feels strongly that the future integrated
agency and its staff need a shadow Chairman and Chief Executive
as soon as possible to provide independent and strong leadership
in establishing a new vision and fresh ideas for achieving the
joined-up goals the new body will face.
(iv) There is a risk that the integrated
agency will be perceived to be entirely an environmental agency.
The Countryside Agency believes this can be mitigated by communicating
the wider social and economic benefits of its activities and a
sustainable development approach. There should also be a sustainable
development duty on the integrated agency to take economic and
social dimensions into account, with specific provisions at both
the regional and local levels, and this duty should be monitored.
(v) The Board believes that bringing the
delivery of agri-environment schemes into the integrated agency
provides an excellent opportunity to make further progress in
the move from subsidy to public benefit, using CAP resources to
deliver improvements to nature conservation and access to landscape.
(vi) Creating a new culture for the integrated
agency will be helped by a new location for headquarters functions
and ensuring that location decisions for its influencing and delivery
centres are driven strategically.
(vii) Further work is needed to agree the
boundaries of responsibilities and synergies between the integrated
agency with the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission,
particularly as the integrated agency presents only a partial
take on integrated land and water use. There would be significant
benefits for customers in securing overall land management for
nature conservation, landscape and access in bringing woodland
and forestry grants, delivery activities and policy advice as
close as possible to the integrated agency operations.
Question 2: the proposed streamlining of rural,
agricultural and environmental funding schemes
(i) We welcome the desire to streamline the
number of funding streams, particularly to minimise bureaucracy
for the customer. But in our view the Strategy does not go far
enough and will have limited impact since so many funding streams
are the responsibility of other parts of government, regional
and local authorities and lottery bodies (which will remain unaffected).
We hope the pathfinder pilot projects will be flexible enough
to link into and test innovative partnership approaches with these
bodies.
(ii) The Rural Strategy does not set itself
any long-term approach to funding arrangements and it is not clear
exactly how the funding streams, including CAP sources, fit into
the Strategy nor how the funds are linked to desired outcomes.
Other mechanisms to incentivise—ie regulation and taxation—have
not been fully explored and there is a danger that regional delivery
arrangements could become perceived as a basic rural subsidy or
entitlement.
(iii) It is essential that in moving to the
new arrangements, the Countryside Agency's experience in delivering
funding for rural communities, the knowledge, best practice and
experience of delivery methods, techniques of minimising bureaucracy,
focus groups and research are not lost or reinvented. Lessons
from the past show that all too often organisational changes result
in a lack of continuity and added confusion for communities as
those taking on new responsibilities tend to "begin again".
(iv) Further clarity is needed on what the
Strategy's focus on "deprived rural areas" actually
means in reality. Quantitative measures to define "rural"
are becoming more sophisticated but wherever there is a policy
of drawing lines on maps to define areas of disadvantage there
is a risk that some miss out. This is particularly the case with
increasing mobility of many either living or working in rural
areas, which makes it difficult to measure precisely where the
deprivation exists—in areas of poor business productivity
or in areas of low income.
(v) The simplification of funding streams
must not inhibit the ability to exploit the opportunities presented
by external partners for formal partnership working on grant schemes.
For example, joint schemes with Lottery and other government funders
have achieved a great deal and could be stifled by the new approach.
Furthermore, funds that are open to both rural and urban areas
need to be rural-proofed very carefully.
Question 3: the delivery mechanisms for the Strategy,
including the IT strategy that underpins it, its environmental
impact and its lines of accountability
(i) The Countryside Agency welcomes the ambition
set out in the Strategy for Defra to set a national framework
for delivery, specifying the outcomes to be achieved whilst allowing
for diversity at regional level.
(ii) Devolving delivery to the regional level
places great responsibility upon regional bodies to acquire the
necessary skills, knowledge and expertise in order to be effective.
Government Offices will need formidable skills, knowledge and
expertise if they are to co-ordinate arrangements behind the frameworks
and achieve sustainable development at both strategic and local
levels.
(iii) The Strategy is silent on how, beyond
the production of regional Rural Delivery Frameworks, a joined-up
service will be delivered to customers and who will be accountable
at regional level. There is confusion around the real influence
at the regional level. The Regional Rural Delivery Frameworks,
for example, will advise the Government Offices about relative
priorities. But if there is a conclusion that more should be spent
on the economy and less on another aspect, how can that shift
be achieved when the resources are held by different bodies applying
them according to decisions taken at the central government level?
(iv) We are surprised and concerned at the
apparent lack of attention given to the role of local authorities
and, in particular, the lack of recognition of their crucial role
in planning and facilitating the delivery of rural services and
in many cases their direct delivery role. Little effort is made
to link the Regional Rural Delivery Frameworks with Community
Strategies. The only significant reference in this Strategy is
to pathfinder projects and developing/testing new forms of partnerships.
Local authorities have a key role to play in the development of
parish and town councils and the devolvement of responsibilities
and services in the future. Whilst we welcome the recognition
of and importance attached to the voluntary/community sector and
their role at the centre of the development of capacity building
for rural communities we are surprised at the exclusion and absence
of local authorities.
(v) It is not clear how real customer feedback
is to be captured and acted upon in order to deliver improved
services at the regional and local level. The NCA will monitor
customer satisfaction more generally, looking to see how the needs
of the disadvantaged are met and that Defra funding streams are
hitting their target audiences. But there is still the potential
for further confusion given the role of the Regional Rural Affairs
Fora which is said to be as the "voice of rural people"
with a direct line to Ministers. To mitigate this risk, the NCA
will develop a close working relationship with the Regional Fora.
In the absence of any regional officer network, it seems as if
the burden in making the links will fall largely on NCA Board
Members. The Government will need to be clear about this in the
job description for new Board Members.
(vi) The Board believes that the draft Bill
should provide a general duty on all government departments and
public bodies to reflect rural equity in their relevant policies
and activities. That will increase the ability to audit and rural-proof
public bodies' policy making—a core role of the NCA.
Question 4: the extent to which the strategy incorporates
the recommendations of Lord Haskins' rural delivery review
(i) The Board welcomes the Secretary of State's
decision not to scrap the Countryside Agency as recommended but
instead refocus into a smaller, "New Countryside Agency"
(working title) which will play a leading and important role in
the new rural policy and delivery landscape. The Board believe
that the status of the NCA must be as a statutory, independent
NDPB so that its objectivity is no less than that of the Countryside
Agency. It is unfortunate that the Secretary of State has not
yet confirmed her intentions in this regard.
(ii) The Board regrets the lack of clarity
in the Strategy about responsibility for achieving social regeneration.
There is a risk that the Regional Development Agencies will regard
it as for Government Offices and Rural Community Councils to lead.
On the other hand, the RDAs require a strong social infrastructure
to make economic investments more likely to succeed in rural areas.
As in some other areas of the Strategy, the document is not clear
on accountability or on measures to achieve success.
Annex A
REMIT FOR
THE "NEW"
COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY
(NCA)
The NCA will:
— provide independent, evidence-based
and objective advice to the Government and others on issues affecting
the interests, needs and well-being of people, communities and
businesses in rural England, and based on the principles of sustainable
development;
— be an independent voice for rural
people and communities, especially those suffering disadvantage,
to ensure that their views are heard by, and articulated to, Government
and other bodies to inform policy-making and delivery; and
— monitor progress in the delivery
of the Government's rural policies, including at regional and
local level, to advise whether policies and delivery on the ground
are addressing the needs identified and leading to measurable
benefits, especially in tackling social exclusion and economic
performance.
The Board will have the following main roles:
RURAL ADVISER
Target Outcome: Government and other bodies
base their policies and delivery objectives on well-founded evidence
and analysis of rural needs, and information about rural best
practice, especially in tackling disadvantage and social exclusion
in rural areas.
To do this NCA will, in particular:
— maintain or have access to core expertise
in issues affecting rural people, communities, and businesses,
and especially about rural disadvantage, so as to be an expert
source of information and advice to Defra, other departments and
delivery bodies;
— act as a think tank and futures body,
across sectors, and advise on policy and delivery implications,
through:
— analysing current research and
data (especially that provided by Defra's Rural Evidence and Research
Centre);
— commissioning or advising on
new work, where needed;
— inviting submissions, conducting
inquiries, and holding seminars and other events, in collaboration
with relevant organisations and stakeholders or as a contribution
to others' work; engage with partners in evaluating others' innovation,
and identifying and promoting best practice in the delivery of
rural policy;
— publish authoritative thematic and
overview reports.
RURAL ADVOCACY
Target Outcome—the needs of rural people
and communities, especially those suffering disadvantage, are
listened to, prioritised and articulated to Government and other
bodies in such a way as to inspire changes in policy and delivery
where necessary.
To do this, NCA will, in particular:
— provide a visible lead in all parts
of England, through its Chair and Board Members, in generating
an informed public debate about rural issues;
— engage with rural people, communities
and businesses through leading or joining conferences, events,
studies and surveys; and
— articulate to Ministers and others
at national level the views of rural people, communities and businesses.
RURAL WATCHDOG
Target Outcome—Parliament, Government
and people are confident that the activities of national, regional
and local government bodies are resulting in practice that amounts
to sustainable rural development on the ground.
To do this NCA will, in particular:
— review the concept and practice of
rural proofing in regional and local authorities, and in other
bodies and sectors, and examine its impact, including from a thematic
perspective in partnership with those organisations;
— check that the impact and outcomes
on the ground of various delivery bodies reflect sustainable development
goals for the benefit of rural people, including through analysis
of rural service delivery;
— advise on the quality of the rural
evidence base, making recommendations on where there are important
gaps (in evidence and in understanding) that may need to be addressed;
and
— monitor the progress of Government
departments as they seek to embed rural objectives in policy making
and delivery; provide advice and encouragement to Defra and others;
and publish reports about progress on rural proofing and its impact
so that there will be a clear picture of Government and wider
public sector responsiveness to rural concerns.
Methods of Working
The following are the key principles by which
the NCA will abide in meeting its remit:
— an open and communicative culture.
Advice to Government should normally be made publicly available
and Board meetings should normally be held in public;
— innovative and flexible approaches
to delivering this remit, through the imaginative use of available
resources, including Board members, core staff and the expertise
available in partner organisations, and the use of new and different
ways of working, such as cross-cutting studies, and local and
regional hearings;
— close liaison with Defra so that
there is no duplication of effort and that wider considerations
are taken into account in respect of work commissioned or undertaken;
— partnership working with the Integrated
Agency, and other national, regional and local organisations,
in developing and pursuing the work programme in order to maximise
its influence and ensure that the work of each organisation complements
the roles and activities of the others, without duplication;
— draw on experience and evidence from
all English regions and more widely in order to contribute to
progress in all parts of rural England;
— effective liaison working through
and with Government Offices, Regional Assemblies, RDAs, regional
stakeholder forums, local authorities and other relevant local
and regional organisations;
— particular close working, by joint
membership or otherwise, with the regional rural affairs forums;
and
— a strong focus on sustainable development
to underpin all its work.
20 September 2004
1 Rural proofing is thinking about whether a policy
will have any significant differential impacts in rural areas.
It aims to encourage government departments and others to "think
rural" by taking account of the characteristics and needs
of the countryside when making and implementing policies, ensuring
services are delivered equitably to rural populations and businesses
who have fewer transport options and where there are fewer outlets
or services. Back
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