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CHAPTER 16: TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

A proportion of EAFRD funds will be used by the Managing Authority for Technical Assistance activities, in accordance with Articles 66(2) and 68 of Regulation ( EC) No 1698/2005. These activities will include core activities on the management, monitoring, evaluation and control of the SRDP. Funding for Technical Assistance will also support the costs of the Scotland National Rural Network and a share of the costs of the UK National Rural Network.

The Managing Authority will manage the budget for Technical Assistance. Spending from this budget will be reported to the Monitoring Committee.

16.1 The UK National Rural Network

The UK will establish a National Rural Network in accordance with Article 66(3) of the Council Regulation 1698/2005. The UK Rural Network will group the organisations and administrations involved in rural development and its activities will cover four main areas:

• the identification and analysis of good transferable practices and the provision of information about them;
• the organisation of exchanges of experience and know how, including on administrative topics and procedures;
• the preparation of training programmes for Local Action Groups in the capacity-building process;
• the provision of technical assistance for inter-territorial and trans-national co-operation.

The following principles will inform development of the UK network:

• the administrative structure of the network will be developed around each of the four UK programmes and linked together at UK level;
• where possible, it will build on established and tested structures;
• it will be as close to local beneficiaries as possible, suggesting the need for what the Commission describe as "regional antennas" as well as a higher-level coordination body;
• the core activities will be built around development and maintenance of a website able to provide detailed information on managing aspects of the UK Rural Development Programmes, e.g. legislative constraints, funding availability and accounting, facilitation and targeting, beneficiary support, communication and promotion, monitoring and evaluation;
• the website will be supplemented by training courses, seminars and national networking meetings to provide opportunities for knowledge transfer and skills building among RDP practitioners.

The UK network will be largely web-based although there will be regular meetings between representatives from the four countries. Each of the four UK administrations will establish its own rural network. A single point of contact with the European rural development network will be established in the UK, but to ensure that knowledge and experience is spread equally among each of the UK countries, this single point of contact may be rotated on an annual basis.

16.2 The National Rural Network in Scotland

Organisations and Administrations involved in Rural Development which will form part of the National Rural Network in Scotland

One of the core objectives and duties of the Scottish National Rural Network will be to group the organisations and administrations involved in rural development. These will be drawn from the following areas:

• Forestry (including Forestry Commission Scotland and forestry forums)
• Agriculture and crofting (including the National Farmers Union - Scotland, the Scottish Crofting Federation and Scottish Young Farmers)
• Landowners and land management (including Scottish Rural Property and Business Association, and the Association of Deer Management Groups)
• Recreation and tourism (including Visitscotland)
• Access (including Scottish Natural Heritage and the National Access Forum)
• Supply-chain (including the Scottish Food and Drink Federation)
• Environment (including Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland and the Scottish Landscape Forum)
• Social and community ( including the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and youth groups)
• Industry and enterprise ( e.g. Federation of Small Businesses, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise)
• Training and advice (including the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, the Scottish Agricultural Colleges, LANTRA- the Sector Skills Council for environmental and land based industries.)
• Local authorities and Community Planning Partnerships (including the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities)
• Consumers (including the Scottish Consumer Councils)
• Academic and research (including the Association of Scotland's Colleges and Universities Scotland)
• Energy ( e.g.the Scottish Renewables Forum)
• Water suppliers ( including Scottish Water)
• Health groups ( i.e. local National Health Service, Rural Practitioner groups)
• Churches and Faith groups
• Equality and minority communities and interests
• Scotland Rural Development Programme ( e.g. Regional Project Assessment Committees, Local Action Groups -especially LEADER)
• Government and public sector (including the Rural and other Directorates of the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Crofters Commission and the Deer Commission for Scotland).

Procedure and Timetable for establishing the National Rural Network in Scotland

Although the Regulation does not require the establishment of the Network until the end of 2008, the Scottish Executive plans to establish the NRN in Scotland in advance of that date. Invitations to nominate representatives to participate in the Network will be sought from the groups and interests listed above, with a deadline for responses of no later than end July 2007. The inaugural meeting will take place in winter 2007-08 at which the remit will be agreed and participants confirmed.

Prior to that meeting the staffing options for establishing the network will be further considered. At this stage the two options are to provide staffing for the Network from within the Scottish Executive itself or by outsourcing from external organisations. It is proposed to outsource staffing in the main in order to ensure that there is adequate animation and facilitation capacity and expertise to develop the Network. The organisation selected to carry out this function will have to demonstrate that it has proven ability, adequate resources, and capacity and expertise in training, Information Technology, finance, administration and event management. However, the final decision on the level of outsourcing will depend on the level of funding available.

The Scottish Executive will be the competent authority with responsibility to oversee the running of the Network. The Monitoring Committee for the SRDP (see Section 12.2) will, in the first instance, approve the draft Rural Network Action Plan which will include the establishment of the Network as its first main action.

To establish appropriate governance, the Network and its administrators will report annually to the SRDP Monitoring Committee detailing financial activity and progress against Action Plan outcomes. The Network will also establish appropriate links to the LEADER network.

Membership of the Network will be reviewed annually. Individual members will not be prevented from seeking a further year of membership but it is likely a ceiling of 2-3 years will be set in order to maintain freshness of ideas and enthusiasm. This builds on the lessons of the LEADER experience over the past 6 years. The Network will be invited to establish a co-ordinating committee to work closely with the permanent secretariat of the Network to maintain direction and focus. The Executive is content to allow the Network to propose how the membership of the co-ordinating committee is established.

Main categories of activity to be undertaken by the National Rural Network in Scotland

The Executive is mindful of advice from the Commission about setting an over-ambitious Action Plan for the Network, particularly early in its existence. Under Article 68(2)(b) of Regulation ( EC) No 1698/2005, the Scottish Executive will draw up an Action Plan as follows.

The Network will focus initially on:

• grouping the organisations and administrations involved in rural development;
• approving and establishing thematic groups (based around the five key outcomes for the SRDP - see Chapter 4);
• capacity building of the Network to raise confidence and capability to successfully implement the Action Plan;
• knowledge transfer of good practice, experience and know-how ; and,
• training and advice.

This will be achieved using the following tools:

• website and database (building on the Rural Gateway website and LEADER database);
• publication of annual and special reports;
• networking and thematic events to encourage people to meet;
• thematic working groups;
• case studies;
• mentoring schemes;
• training tools for new LAGs;
• support on monitoring and evaluation processes (including the use of indicators);
• provision of technical information including on the operation of the Scotland Rural Development Programme; and,
• focusing material and content on implementation.

It is anticipated that the UK National Rural Network will take the lead on:

• providing a point of contact for the UK with the Commission and the European Rural Network;
• providing a web-link between the 4 UK administration NRN websites;
• technical assistance and capacity building for inter territorial and trans-national co-operation; and,
• the coordination of the information flow between the local, national and European level.

Table 16.1. Amount reserved for establishing and operating the National Rural Network and implementing the Action Plan in Scotland

[Subject to clarification of overall funding levels available]

Designation of Competent Authorities and Bodies Responsible

The Scottish Executive will be the competent authority for the Network. The body responsible for running the Network will be the product of a successful tender as discussed above.

The monitoring and evaluation system, as well as the envisaged composition of the Monitoring Committee

An early priority of the Action Plan will be to finalise how the activities of the network will be monitored and evaluated. Key performance indicators will be used for this purpose, as well as qualitative and quantitative user feedback evaluation, information gathering and regular reporting. The Network itself will play a key role in disseminating the results of monitoring and evaluation of the SRDP through appropriate links with the Monitoring Committee (see section 12.2) and regional structures that administer the SRDP.

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