Environment, Food and Rural Affairs CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Countryside Alliance

The Countryside Alliance welcomes this opportunity to submit evidence to the Efra Select Committee inquiry on Rural Communities. Holding Government to account for how policy is affecting those living and working in rural areas is extremely important. This inquiry is a significant step in ensuring that Government policies and programmes are appropriately addressing the interests of those living and working in rural areas.

The Countryside Alliance is a campaigning organisation covering the whole of the United Kingdom, whose aim is to promote the countryside, country sports and support the livelihood of rural people and their communities. As a membership organisation with over 105,000 individual members and more than 250,000 affiliated members, we reflect the views and concerns of a broad range of rural people and their livelihoods.

The Countryside Alliance has welcomed the creation of the Rural Communities Policy Unit (RCPU). Lying at the heart government, in the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), it is uniquely placed to influence policy and champion the needs of rural communities.

The Alliance supported the Government’s plan to abolish the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) and believes the functions of the CRC—advocate, adviser and watchdog—can be performed by the newly created Rural Communities Policy Unit. However, to be able to perform these roles it needs the full support of Ministers and a profile throughout Whitehall that is taken seriously.

The Approach of the Rural Communities Policy Unit

How effective has the RCPU been in engaging with rural communities?

1. The role of the RCPU has been to be “a rural champion across government and promote the interests and needs of rural people, communities and businesses” and to have “two way communication”, this is something the Countryside Alliance has supported from the start.

2. Two way communication is key to ensuring Defra is in touch with the concerns and priorities of rural communities and businesses. The RCPU has made a good start with initiatives such as launching the Rural and Farming Networks, Rural Roadshows and working with the Rural Coalition. However, we do feel the RCPU has had a soft launch, which has resulted in a lower profile than needs be. The low profile of RCPU may be because of the uncertainty around the future of the CRC, nevertheless the unit needs to give itself a platform with a clear place in the world of rural policy. The delayed Rural Policy Statement is not helping this situation and it makes us question whether there is a lack of support and direction from Ministers and civil servants.

3. As a rural membership organisation we would welcome the opportunity to provide information and work closely with the newly created RCPU. However, we are concerned that having wrote to the head of the RCPU in February 2012 we still have not received a response.

Has the RCPU done enough to ensure the voices of the hardest to reach can be heard?

8. The RCPU task of building communications with rural stakeholders to ensure “rich and varied intelligence, influence and evidence” is of great importance. The diversity and range of interests in rural communities means that rural policy needs to be responsive to many needs and should not just be a one size fits all model.

9. We welcomed the renewed grant in aid investment in the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN) and Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and the creation of the Rural and Farming Network.

10. We also strongly encourage the shift towards working with a range of rural stakeholders, not just the networks cited above. This will ensure the RCPU’s advice, advocacy and expertise is a reflection of numerous sources, rather than a single body giving advice, advocacy and expertise, which unfortunately was the case with the CRC. This will also go some way to identifying and engaging with the voices of the hardest to reach as presently we feel that the profile of the RCPU is fairly low within rural communities and so will certainly not be ensuring the voices of the hardest to reach are heard.

How effective has the RCPU been in engaging with other government departments, for example, providing challenge and ensuring policy is “rural proofed”?

11. It is clear that positive steps have been taken to implement rural proofing, but there is still a very long way to go before we will begin to see real improvements at ground level. There needs to be a full review of the level of rural proofing occurring in government departments.

12. The Alliance remains unconvinced rural proofing has been built into existing policy making systems or promoted internally to a sufficient degree. This must be accelerated immediately to ensure rural proofing of key areas of Government policy making is taking place.

Should “rural proofing” be subject to external review? How might this work?

13. Rural proofing should be a tool for accountability, and the results of both internal and external rural proofing exercises should be published. We believe that the EFRA select committee should formally review the rural proofing report each year on publication. The commitment of the Government to rural proofing needs a parallel commitment from the House of Commons, with a full debate on the annual rural proofing document.

14. Commenting on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill in 2005, the Alliance noted that “the rural proofing function” of the CRC needed to be more “overtly stated” so that the impact of Government policy—both positive and negative—could be properly assessed. As a result one of the CRC’s biggest failings was its inability to be a proper watchdog for rural policy. The Alliance does not want to see the RCPU fall in to the same trap—rural communities deserve a rural champion to ensure their voice is listened to.

The RCPU is the Government’s “centre for rural expertise”. Is it sufficiently resourced to carry out this function?

15. It is important that the RCPU provides sound evidence to support, inform and influence Government policy relevant to rural people, businesses and communities.

16. Research produced by the CRC has been of fine quality and has shed light on the circumstances and challenges facing rural communities and businesses. The publication of the Evidence Plan and Official Statistics about Rural England by the RCPU will need to fill the gap left in research.

17. It is also important that expertise and research from outside the RCPU is recognised and utilised where appropriate.

Is the RCPU transparent and open?

18. The Alliance does not believe the RCPU is as transparent and open as it could be, but not because they are being deliberately secretive, but because they do not have a clear agenda and programme of works. The RCPU website and the information posted online are basic and we have received little communication from them.

How should the effectiveness of the RCPU be measured?

19. Measuring the effectiveness of the RCPU should be built into the Rural Policy Statement. The Alliance would like to see the statement include a series of bench-marks by which the effectiveness of the RCPU and government policy can be measured.

Is there still a role for an independent Rural Advocate?

20. The role of an independent Rural Advocate could be to produce and review the annual rural proofing report, to ensure external scrutiny and ensuring all government departments are meeting their targets.

Rural Grants and Funding

How effective will the measures announced in the Rural Economy Growth Review be in stimulating sustainable growth in the rural economy?

21. The Alliance believes it is too early to say how effective the measures will be in stimulating sustainable growth in the rural economy. However, we are very supportive of the project and the lessons that can be learned to help rural economies grow.

Government Policy

The Government is preparing a Rural Policy Statement. What should be in it?

22. The proposal of the Government-wide Rural Statement to make government policy for rural communities more transparent is welcomed, as it provides a series of bench-marks by which government policies can be measured. However it is extremely important that the statement remains a fluid entity, because government policies and programmes will change as will the rural needs and interests and the Rural Statement should be updated to reflect this.

Ministers’ stated rural priorities are housing, broadband, services, transport and fuel. Are these the correct priorities for the Government to focus on?

23. The Alliance fully supports the stated priorities of the RCPU. Housing, broadband, services, transport and fuel are all policy areas which the Alliance has conducted research on, campaigned for and are things of concern for our members. However, we would urge that an eye is kept on the groceries adjudicator code ensuring our farmers get a fair deal. The recent crisis in the Dairy sector has highlighted the plight faced by our farmers at the hands of supermarkets and processors. We must not allow this to happen to any other sector in farming.

September 2012