This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Report outlines measures to streamline Executive support for rural land use
31/01/2001
A new study outlines the scope available to promote efficiency and ensure maximum benefit from rural grant schemes, the Scottish Executive announced today.
The report - commissioned in September 1999 - was produced by Cardiff University and takes forward the recommendations of the Land Reform Policy Group that there should be further study and development of current public assistance supporting rural land use in Scotland.
The main findings of the Report are:
The scoping issues interact. Adding requirements for more community consultation or information disclosure are not easy to reconcile with making schemes streamlined or more user friendly.
scheme streamlining: there is relatively little duplication between schemes in the sense of having more than one scheme serving exactly the same objective;
user-friendliness: much of the scope to improve user-friendliness involves the use of I.T. delivery systems. This is dependent on access to computers by farmers and rural communities generally ;
attaching new conditions: research focussed on whether there was scope in principle
- cross-compliance: some scope exists, but SE has relatively little autonomy in attaching new conditions to the main EU agricultural support schemes. Broad support found for assistance conditional on a code of good practice;
- community consultation: the scope to require scheme applicants to undertake some form of public consultation reflects the general scope to make scheme changes. EU based schemes may not be easy to incorporate;
- information disclosure: There is scope to allow information on individual public assistance payments to be releasedprovided Data Protection Act and EU requirements are met.
The report provides a study of scope for change within and outwith the Executive powers and offers recommendations. The report takes account of a number of initiatives within the Executive some ongoing at the time of study.
The report's recommendations will be incorporated within the work being done by the Executive as it progresses strategies for Forestry, Agriculture and Rural issues in Scotland.
BACKGROUND
1. This study arose out of the Land Reform Agenda (Recommendations for Action, The Stationery Office, January 1999) and is one of the recommendations (G1) in the Land Reform Action Plan Progress Report a quarterly update of which was last published in August. The study's research objectives were to take forward the recommendations of the Land Reform Policy Group that there should be further study and development of current public assistance supporting land uses, covering the scope for -
- Streamlining and integrating different schemes that seek substantially similar objectives or simplifying their modes of delivery;
- making support schemes more user-friendly;
- attaching new conditions to such public assistance, e.g. to ensure cross compliance with Codes of Good Practice and rural development objectives;
- Greater community consultation (especially as a condition for receiving assistance);
- Improving the public availability of information about support schemes and the recipients (especially as a condition for receiving assistance).
2. The Research was undertaken by Cardiff University, Department of City and Regional Planning. Dr Richard Cowell can be contacted on 029 20876684.
3. Full copies of the Report can be obtained from The Stationery Office Bookshop, 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ at a price of £5.00
4. The Scottish Executive recently published the Way Forward: Framework for Economic Development in Scotland; Rural Scotland: A New Approach; The Scottish Forestry Strategy; and is currently working on a Strategy for Scottish Agriculture. Other reviews undertaken internally by the Executive that have been taken into account in the report include the Red Tape Review, Electronic Service Delivery and the CAP Admin Review all of which will report separately in the near future.
News Release: SE0190/2001
31 Jan 2001