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IMPLEMENTING SERVICES IN RURAL SCOTLAND: A PROGRESS REPORT
SECTION B: KEY SERVICES
1. In Section A, we identified a number of key overarching themes from the Services in Rural Scotland report, and provided our assessment of the degree of progress which has been made since January 2001. However, while many of these themes are applicable across all service provision in remote and rural areas, the original report highlighted a number of the key characteristics of rural service provision which were particularly important to rural communities, and which required specific action. In discussing how we would approach our task, we considered whether we should look specifically at the same range of services, given that some aspects of service provision had moved forward, and that there was perhaps a need to look more closely at community self-provision of services. However, given the remit that we had been set, we decided that we needed to focus our attention on the key characteristics of rural service provision identified in the original report. In this section, we will therefore report on progress which has been made in the areas of:
- transport and access to services;
- retail and other business services;
- multi-purpose buildings;
- information and advice services; and
- childcare and services for young people.
Transport and Access to Services
2. The issue of transport, and its role in providing access to services, is a crucial issue across rural communities, and one which, not surprisingly, features significantly in the Services in Rural Scotland report. In particular, the report encouraged not only more imaginative and innovative approaches to rural transport provision, but better integration between the forms of transport already being provided. It also encouraged the spreading of the good practice which already exists in many remote and rural areas.
3. We took evidence, amongst others, from officials from the Executive's Transport Divisions who were able to update us on the work underway on the rural transport front, some of which had already been reported in the Executive's response of September 2001. One interesting finding from the evaluation of the Rural Transport Fund, published in July 2001, was that the Fund provided good value for money, and had included the finding that 25% of passengers using Community Transport services for individuals would have been housebound had it not been for the services provided by the Fund. One of the issues which is frequently raised is the issue of on-going revenue funding for projects which are important to rural communities. We were therefore interested to hear that the Rural Community Transport Initiative (an element of the Fund) is now offering on-going revenue funding for some projects, in recognition of the importance of some of these projects to the communities they serve. We were also told that officials have good information on the location of the major gaps in community transport provision, and are actively encouraging the development of projects in these areas. To assist with this, the Executive has provided funding for an additional rural officer for the Community Transport Association. We welcome this investment by the Executive in the CTA, which is bringing benefits to rural communities
4. In terms of spreading good practice, the rural community transport good practice guide published by the Executive in July 2001 has been very successful, with a second print run required to meet demand. We also note that the Executive's Health Department is examining ways in which examples of good practice in the provision of transport to health services might be identified and potentially replicated elsewhere.
5. The need for better integration of the transport already available in local areas was a key message from the services report, and is reflected in the good practice guide mentioned earlier. In March 2002, to coincide with the publication of its Transport Delivery Report, the Executive announced that it would be supporting 2 integrated transport pilots in rural areas. In September 2002, the Executive announced that the first pilot would be in Aberdeenshire. We welcome this development, which should produce some useful lessons for the provision of transport in other remote and rural areas.
6. In addition to the services supported through the Rural Transport Fund, we recognise that the Executive also supports many lifeline air and ferry services to some of the more remote and island communities. We were encouraged to hear that there is a willingness to consider changes in the running of ferry services to improve access to services - e.g., changes in the ferry times to and from Gigha had enabled schoolchildren to travel to and from school on the mainland each day - although the regulation of air services meant that it was more difficult to provide such flexibility. It is important that investment in vital infrastructure projects takes account of their potential impact on the quality of life of communities, and we hope that the Executive will continue to consider positively any proposals for infrastructure projects which will improve accessibility for those living in remote and rural areas.
7. The services report recognises that it can be difficult to separate out transport needs from the need to access services, and recommends that further work is done to look at rural accessibility issues. Again, in the evidence from Executive officials, we noted that a study into Rural Accessibility 4, commissioned by the Executive from Derek Halden Associates, had been published in May 2002. This study provides a framework for benchmarking the accessibility of a rural community, and a methodology for measuring the effects of changes in service delivery arrangements, as well as transport changes. We did not have time to consider this report in detail, but hope that, in considering how to roll out its findings, ways will be found to ensure that local agencies and communities are encouraged to make use of the framework and methodology in addressing local service needs.
8. The Services in Rural Scotland report recognised that, in addition to addressing transport issues to improve access to services, other solutions should also be considered, where it might be more appropriate either to bring the service to the users, or to use remote provision. We heard of a number of examples of mobile services being provided - for example, mobile banks, home banking visits/ "flying banker", Screen Machine mobile cinema in the Highlands. However, we did not find any evidence of an expansion of, or even plans to expand, this kind of provision, to remote and rural areas not currently benefiting from mobile services.
9. By contrast, remote provision of services, in particular using the internet or phones, appears to be increasing, particularly in the banking and retail fields. We were unable to investigate the extent to which this is transforming service provision in rural areas, and in particular the impact it is having on physical services. However, we noted that, in taking forward its 21st Century Government agenda, the Executive recognises the need for a multi-channel approach, using face to face, as well as internet and telephone channels. It would be helpful for progress on this front to be monitored, to ensure that remote and rural areas benefit fully from these developments. We were disappointed that the network of Digital Champions has not been extended throughout rural Scotland.
Retail and other Business Services
10. Shops and other retail services are considered vital services by rural communities, and the Services in Rural Scotland report made a number of recommendations for safeguarding and enhancing the provision of retail services in remote and rural areas.
11. One of the issues raised in the report was the extent of support and business advice available to village shops. In their evidence to us, both Enterprise Networks confirmed that, while in the past there may have been some uncertainty about whether they treated retail businesses as small businesses, this is now changing, and village shops were now able to access start up advice, business advice and training in the same way as other small businesses - although Scottish Enterprise admitted that the availability of this range of services to village shops may vary across LECs, depending on the ability of LECs to deliver these services. HIE told us that its LECs can also offer development grants for lone stores in remote and rural areas, and in a couple of LEC areas - Western Isles and Argyll - specific attention was being given to local/community shops. From this evidence, and other evidence sessions, we reached the conclusion that the services already available were serving the needs of rural businesses, and that there did not appear to be a significant demand for a separate additional scheme to assist village shops and other retail businesses in remote and rural areas. Similarly, we detected very mixed support for any kind of business improvement grants. However, there is probably more that can be done by LECs and others to publicise the services and assistance already available to village shops to ensure that those who need this help know about it.
12. One of the mechanisms identified as assisting retail services in rural areas was rates relief, and the report made a number of recommendations for how the current rates relief scheme could be extended. We were pleased to note that the Executive had acted on the findings of the services report and, following a consultation exercise during 2001, Ministers had decided to extend the scope of the existing village shop rate relief scheme to include single-owned petrol filling stations, small food shops and public houses/hotels/inns which provided a community service. In addition, the rateable value threshold for filling stations and public houses/hotels/inns will be increased to 9,000 (the rateable value threshold for small food shops is 6,000). ATMs situated in settlements of less than 3,000 people in designated rural areas will also be exempt from non-domestic rates. These provisions are included in the Local Government Bill currently before Parliament. Additionally, with effect from April 2003, the Executive will be introducing a new rate relief scheme for small businesses. While we welcome all of these developments, we have noted a potential problem with regard to properties in multiple use (e.g. shop, bank, post office and other services sharing premises), where the size of the property may push the rateable value above the threshold for small business rate relief.
13. The Services in Rural Scotland report singled out post offices as an important rural service, and one around which some innovative approaches to service provision could be developed. We were therefore interested to hear of the developments which have taken place since the publication of the services report, to help rural post offices to stay open. These developments include the appointment of Rural Transfer Advisors (6 in Scotland) to help prevent or reverse post office closures in remote and rural areas, by working with postmasters and local communities to develop imaginative solutions to keep post offices open, and offer information on the range of grants and initiatives available through different organisations. Another development is the Sub Post Office Start Up Capital Subsidy Scheme, a 2 million scheme administered by DTI, to provide an additional source of funding for situations where a rural post office has recently closed, or is likely to close, and where the post office would be lost to the community, without the payment of subsidy. To date, we were told that approximately 10% of successful applications to this Fund are from Scotland. We welcome these developments, and the news that some communities are taking advantage of them to consider taking over the running of their community post offices. However, in the time available to us, we were unable to speak to any of the Rural Transfer Advisers, or to any beneficiaries of the Capital Subsidy Scheme, and thus were unable to assess the real impact which these developments are having on service provision in rural areas.
14. One of the key findings of the services report was the potential for making greater use of post offices for the delivery of various services. In particular, the report highlighted 2 initiatives which were considered to have potential for roll-out to other rural areas. The first of these was the Digital Highland pilot, which we were disappointed to learn had not proceeded as planned, for a variety of reasons. One reason was that Consignia was also involved in the Government General Practitioner - Your Guide - pilot in Leicestershire and Rutland, and it was felt that it would be better to await the outcome of that pilot before proceeding any further with the Highland pilot. The Your Guide pilot was completed some months ago, and, at the time of preparing this report, the results of the evaluation of the pilot were still being considered by both UK and Executive Ministers, before decisions are taken on possible roll out. While we cannot comment on the merits of the Your Guide pilot itself, we hope that any decisions to roll out the initiative to other areas will include rural communities in Scotland, and that its delivery can take account of the nature and size of these communities.
15. While the services report placed great emphasis on the potential of post offices to deliver a wide range of services on behalf of other service providers, we have noted that the nature of many of our rural post offices means that these might not always be suitable premises from which to offer a variety of services. Therefore, we believe it is important that, in considering how best to deliver services in a rural community, a flexible approach is taken to ensure that the most appropriate location is utilised.
16. Some banks are already making use of post offices to deliver some of their services. While banking services are important to rural communities, it is recognised that it is not always viable for banks to continue to operate branches in rural communities, and it is therefore important that opportunities are taken to deliver services in imaginative ways, to ensure that rural bank customers are not disadvantaged. We took evidence from a number of the high street banks, and were encouraged to hear that most operated a policy of not closing branches which were the "last bank in town". We also noted that some already make use of mobile banks, home visits and agency arrangements (particularly with the Post Office) to deliver banking services to those unable to access a bank branch. We also heard of a pilot in England, involving the 4 major Banks, where each Bank accepted transactions from customers of the other Banks. We hope that the outcomes of this pilot can be considered by the banks in Scotland, to see if there is any potential to replicate the pilot here. Despite these developments, there appears to be a general reluctance among the banks to deliver services via community facilities or to share premises with other banks or services, mainly due, we were told, to concerns over security. Many of the banks, however, were interested in the Community Mall concept, and had participated in meetings to discuss how it might be taken forward. We hope that the banks may be able to find a way of participating in a pilot Mall, and of addressing their security concerns.
17. While some Banks have arrangements which enable their customers to make transactions over post office counters, we noted that, at present, it is not possible for customers to withdraw cash from post offices using bank cards. Given that, in many remote and rural areas, the post office might well be the only source of cash, due to the absence of banks or ATMs, we hope that it will be possible for the Banks and the Post Office to overcome the obstacles, particularly with regard to technology, to allow cash withdrawals to be made. This will be particularly important, given the transfer of benefits payments to bank accounts, and the introduction of the Universal Bank and basic bank accounts.
18. Credit Unions are an important source of finance for the most financially excluded in society, including in remote and rural areas. We were therefore pleased to note that work is underway to encourage the development of the credit union movement throughout Scotland, including in rural areas, following the publication of the Credit Union Action Plan and the establishment of the Scottish Credit Union Partnership, with 2 members representing rural areas.
Information and Advice Services
19. In this report, we have already highlighted a number of examples of how the availability of information and advice is being facilitated and enhanced in rural areas. The Services in Rural Scotland report emphasised not only the need to ensure that those living in remote and rural areas had opportunities to access information and advice, but that, where possible, such information was made available in a variety of existing locations, including post offices.
20. The development of the Rural Community Gateway Website will be one channel through which information and advice will be available to rural communities, and we hope that it will act as a one-stop shop, providing links to other sources of information and advice. Access to this Website and others should be enhanced by the programme of providing Public Internet Access points in places already visited by the public, such as hairdressers, village halls, etc. It would be useful to monitor this initiative to see what impact it has in improving access to services for those living in rural communities.
21. We also heard of a number of other initiatives which are aimed at improving access to information and advice. These include the Your Guide pilot, the Scottish Enterprise Network's Small Business Gateway, funding to expand Money Advice Services, and a pilot debt-line telephone advice service in Fife. While none of these are designed specifically for rural areas, they could potentially offer significant benefits for those living in our rural communities. We also note that bodies such as the Councils of Voluntary Service (CVS) play a vital role in the provision of information to the voluntary sector, while trade bodies such as the Scottish Grocers Federation perform a similar role for their members.
22. One issue which arose in our discussions was the issue of utilising existing service outlets, such as post offices and local authority service outlets, to deliver information and advice. In some remote and rural areas, more than one service provider may operate an outlet, meaning that information and advice is available in more than one location. While it is for service providers to make decisions about how to offer their services, we have observed that, in some instances, it might well be more viable for information to be available in only one location, rather than being offered through various outlets in the same village. We believe that service providers need to be encouraged to work together, and to make better use of existing buildings. Our comments about post offices, made earlier in this section, are also relevant here.
Multi-Purpose Buildings
23. The Services in Rural Scotland report recommended that greater consideration be given to the sharing of buildings and facilities by service providers as a means of reducing costs and overheads, and helping to make services more viable, as well as more accessible for rural dwellers. Throughout this report, we have already highlighted a number of ways in which multi-purpose facilities are being used, or considered by service providers, and some of the obstacles and barriers that seem to exist.
24. Multi-Purpose Community Buildings (sometimes also referred to as Village Halls) are widely acknowledged as one potential way in which services can be located together under one roof, and the services report included some existing examples of multi-purpose village halls. We are pleased that the Scottish Executive gave priority to applications for multi-purpose village halls, in the 2002-03 round of the Local Capital Grants Scheme. However, we note that the cost of building and maintaining such facilities can be high, and requires significantly more capital and revenue funding than is available from funds like the Local Capital Grants Scheme. Therefore, there would appear to be a need at a local level for communities and service providers to work together on the development of such facilities, including raising the necessary resources. We also heard of an example - in South Ayrshire - where the local authority was reviewing the use of all its community centres and village halls to see if there was any potential for multi-usage.
25. We note that there appears to be little progress in the provision of training and support for village hall committees and others involved in running village halls. Our discussions confirmed the need for communities to be supported at all stages in taking forward proposals to build and run a village hall, and we therefore hope that this will be addressed, at both a national and local level. In terms of spreading good practice and learning lessons from developments of this nature, we note that the Executive is currently working on a good practice guide about multi-purpose facilities.
26. One of the key recommendations in the services report was that consideration should be given to taking forward the Community Mall one-stop shop concept. We note that the Executive has facilitated meetings with the Enterprise Networks, CoSLA, the banks, Consignia and SCVO, to discuss the possibility of developing pilot Community Malls. Scottish Enterprise Borders and Scottish Borders Council are progressing work to establish a pilot Community Mall in Walkerburn, and have already held meetings at a local level with the community and local businesses. A feasibility study is being commissioned, and it is possible that this pilot could get under way within the coming months. In the HIE area, consideration has been given to establishing a "virtual" Community Mall in Orkney, but this has proven more difficult to get off the ground, due to the fact that there are already similar projects operating in the area. It is encouraging that service providers, including the banks and Consignia, are interested in being involved in the pilots. Our discussions have highlighted the need for issues such as displacement of service provision to be considered carefully by those developing Community Mall facilities. There is also a need to ensure that there are opportunities for bottom-up proposals for the development of Community Malls to be considered and progressed. Notwithstanding these reservations, we hope that it will be possible to take forward at least one Community Mall pilot in the coming months, which will be fully evaluated with the lessons learned passed on to other areas considering similar approaches.
27. While the services report promoted the Community Mall concept, it also recognised that the sharing of premises was not a new idea, and that there were already a number of examples of where this was working successfully. Earlier in this report, we have mentioned the voluntary sector energy centres in Lochaber and Orkney. The Co-operative Group also told us that they offer space in some of their stores to credit unions. While we also heard some examples from the banks of using community facilities to deliver banking services on a regular basis, this did not appear to happen on a large scale, and issues relating to security appear to be inhibiting the banks from exploring further opportunities to share premises.
28. One issue raised in the services report was the need for funders to exercise flexibility in imposing service and building standards, to take account of rural circumstances, and the need, for example, for a village hall to have multiple uses. In written evidence, Sportscotland told us that their lottery programmes are designed to ensure that any targets or standards attached to awards take account of the particular circumstances of rural areas. The New Opportunities Fund also reported that, while some standards are set to secure important requirements, such as health and safety standards, it does recognise that other standards may not always be appropriate in all circumstances. The Fund provided the example of the New Opportunities for PE and Sport programme which is funding sports facilities across Scotland, and where Case Managers working alongside local authorities are adopting a flexible approach in interpreting the standards set to suit the area and circumstances involved. These responses are encouraging. However, in the time available to us, we were unable to check whether this flexibility was being matched by other funding bodies, nor whether communities could point to specific examples of this being put into practice.
29. The evidence we received from Communities Scotland also highlighted another aspect of building standards which can have an important impact in a remote or rural setting. The example cited concerned the building of houses in remote or island settings, where the weather conditions experienced in these areas means that roof tiles needed to be secured more firmly than is required in other areas, adding to the cost of construction. Communities Scotland told us that this demonstrated how the system which they had in place allowed for flexibility between areas to take account of local circumstances, and for assessment against peers to allow for the comparisons. We were encouraged by this, but were unable, in the time available, to ascertain whether any other bodies operated similar approaches.
Childcare and Young People
Childcare
30. Childcare was identified as a crucial service in remote and rural areas, but one which required some further attention to overcome the obstacles being experienced in the provision and accessibility of such services. We noted that, while both Enterprise Networks reported some activity to support childcare provision - for example Scottish Enterprise Borders seconded a member of staff to the Council's childcare department to assist in developing a local childcare strategy - both admitted that there was a mixed performance across their Networks.
31. In terms of support for childcare provision in remote and rural areas, we noted the services being provided by Highland Pre-School Services to voluntary childcare and early years agencies. This includes the Highland and Moray Accredited Training Services which delivers vocational training; flexible models of committee management support, in which Highland Pre-School Services can be subcontracted by management committees to handle recruitment, employment and staff development issues, or even to run facilities; and family support services. It also operates a special needs grants scheme to help with the provision of special needs care in the Highland area.
32. One of the findings in the Services in Rural Scotland report was that there was a need for better information about the provision of childcare services in rural Scotland, and about the take up of Childcare Tax Credit in rural areas. We note the work being done by Children in Scotland, as part of its Growing Up in Rural Scotland programme, which should help raise awareness of childcare services in rural Scotland. We are however disappointed to note that the Executive has decided not be go ahead with the proposed research into the Childcare Tax Credit uptake, and hope that this decision will be reconsidered.
33. We were also unable to find any evidence of work being taken forward to assist small and medium-sized enterprises to take advantage of childcare facilities, and hope this will be addressed. Children in Scotland did report on work it was doing with LECs on the links between childcare and economic development, and it will be interesting to see the results of this work. There might also be merit in public agencies in rural areas doing more to provide childcare places for their workforce, with some places also being made available to other businesses
34. Overall, despite the examples mentioned above, we did not find much evidence of progress in the uptake and provision of childcare to rural communities since the publication of the Services in Rural Scotland report, while issues regarding integration of services, sustainability, patterns of delivery, accessibility and staff retention and development remain.
Young People
35. We have already mentioned earlier in this report some of the developments to encourage the empowerment and involvement of young people - these include the Youth Summit, Youth Portal and Eurodesk. The Youth Parliament ensures that rural young people can play a full role by providing subsidised travel (and, in some cases, accommodation) costs via the new Young Scot Scottish Youth Parliament card. In some remote and rural areas, engagement in the Youth Parliament is particularly high (e.g. Shetland), although this is by no means a uniform picture, and appears largely dependent on the enthusiasm of individual local authorities.
36. We were particularly interested to hear about the Consultation Toolkit which has been developed to help agencies and organisations consult young people. The Toolkit has been distributed widely to a variety of bodies, including all public agencies, and an exercise is currently underway to assess how the document is being used and identify whether any other organisations might benefit from using it. We would suggest that the results of this exercise should include an assessment of the extent to which it is assisting in consulting young people in different geographical settings, including remote and rural areas, and that this information is made available to national and local agencies.
37. There are also 2 mapping exercises underway. The first, by Youthlink, is mapping specific youth services to improve understanding of the nature and extent of provision; while the second is mapping youth justice services, It will be important that the results of both exercises are able to be disaggregated on a rural:urban basis so that any discrepancies can be addressed.
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