Updates which have been made to the guidance published online for Rural Priorities can be viewed by clicking on Guidance Updates from the left hand menu.
All significant updates and additions to the online guidance are also listed below:
6 November 2009
Annual Recurrent Payments Update
Please note that the intention is to begin to pay annual recurrent claims for Rural Priorities in early 2010, as soon as possible after the end of the scheme year. This is in line with arrangements for previous agri-environment schemes, where such payments were also made after the end of the scheme year.
The different date of payment is down to the scheme year for Rural Priorities being different, i.e. January to December rather than September to August which was the case with RSS.
The timing is also informed by the need to comply with European requirements for all inspections for land-based activities to be carried out before payments can be made.
Once the inspections have been completed, we must prioritise work to be carried out at a busy time of year, with processing of Single Farm Payments taking precedence.
We are aware that guidance has previously referred to earlier dates for annual recurrent payments. This was erroneous and should have been corrected as soon the error was recognised. We apologise for any confusion and inconvenience caused by this oversight.
We will of course make every effort to ensure payments are made as soon as possible.
21 October 2009
Dates for the Spring 2010 Rural Priorities Assessment Round have been announced.
6 October 2009
Front and Back Office System Updates
A release of new developments has been made to both the Front and Back Office systems. Details of the changes and how they affect you are shown below:-
Front Office
1. The appearance of the Front office system has been updated for both external (applicant's/agents) and internal users (RPID/SNH/FCS staff). This update is referred to as the "New Look and Feel". You will notice that you no longer navigate around the screens using the breadcrumb links at the top of each screen, instead each screen contains various tabs and you use these or the menu items down the side of the screen to navigate around. For details of the new screen layouts please see the updated desk instructions in the Staff Guidance section
2. SoI Bypass has been fully developed and is now available to Applicants/Agents in the Front Office system. Once an Applicant/Agent Creates a New Case, gives it a Title and selects a Region, they can then either choose to Create a SoI or Bypass the SoI.
a. If "Create SoI" is selected then external and internal users should follow the existing processes
b. If "SoI Bypass" is selected then the applicant/agent is presented with a declaration which must be accepted, before they are taken directly to the Proposal screens where they are able to enter their Proposal details.
Changes to procedure for Internal Users - see the Desk instructions for more detailed information:
a. When a Proposal is Submitted that has Bypassed the SoI, the Case Status will change to Proposal Received (if a map is required), or Proposal Ready for Allocation if a map is not required.
b. When a Case is at Proposal Received status, it appears in the Case Administrators Case List. The Case Administrator must upload a map to the Case and change the status to Proposal Ready for Allocation.
c. When a Case is at Proposal Ready for Allocation status, it appears in the Co-ordinator's Case List. The Co-ordinator should allocate a Case Officer to the Case. The status will change to Proposal Submitted.
d. When the Case reaches Proposal Submitted status it will appear in the Case Officer's Case List. The easiest way for a Case Officer to identify whether a Case has bypassed SoI or not is to check the Case Docs tab. If a Record of the Statement of Intent exists then you will know that the SoI Process was followed. If no Record of SoI exists then you will know the SoI was bypassed.
Once the Case reaches Proposal Submitted status it should be progressed as normal
3. The Internal User Desk Instructions for Processing a SoI and for Processing a Proposal have now been amalgamated into one Desk instruction. This includes the instructions for dealing with a Proposal that has Bypassed SoI. The new instruction contains screen shots of all the new screens and details each process for each User Role separately. You should refer to the new instructions [insert a link to the Desk Instruction "SRDP - Internal User Guidance for processing New Cases in Front Office"] for more details about the changes.
4. A new intervention rate of 80% for Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) has been introduced to the 6 Woodland Creation Options. FIDs designated as LFA will now receive 80% of the Woodland Creation Standard Cost. NLFA areas will continue to receive 70% of the Woodland Creation Standard Costs. The Option Details screen for the Woodland Creation Options includes new columns on the Capital Items table for 'Quantity LFA' and 'Quantity NLFA'. Applicants enter their quantities in the relevant column.
Back Office
1. The Case Details screen for the 6 Woodland Creation Options has been updated. The Standard Capital Tab now includes a column for Quantity (LFA) and Quantity (NLFA). New cases will have the quantities shown against LFA or NLFA. All existing Cases will have the quantities for their Standard Cost Capital items displayed against the Quantity (NLFA) column.
Action to be taken by Case Officer's on existing Cases that include Woodland Creation that are not yet at Contract
a. Open the Case Details screen for the Woodland Creation Option
b. Check to make sure that the FIDs displayed on the Planting Model tab are shown in black (valid FIDs). If the FID is red, you must find out what the correct FID should be and change the red FID to the valid FID. This will enable the correct intervention rate to be applied.
c. Check the Standard Capital tab. If Standard Cost items exist find out whether they are taking place on LFA or NLFA. If the quantities should be in the LFA column then enter the quantity in the LFA column, tab off the cell and enter a reason for the adjustment. You should then highlight the quantity in the NLFA column and using the space bar, delete that quantity. You should now have a quantity in the LFA column and no quantity in the NLFA column. Click on Save to save the change.
d. Carry out the steps at "c" above for each Capital item that needs to be moved to the LFA column
e. Progress the Case to Ministerial Confirmation as normal
f. Once the case is at RDC initiated status check the Schedule of Works to ensure that the payments have calculated correctly at either 70 or 80% depending on whether the area is LFA or NLFA. - see the Table below for payment rates.
g. The Schedule of Works does not contain new columns for Quantity LFA and Quantity NLFA, but instead the description of each Standard Cost item has LFA or NLFA added to the end of the item description, e.g. "Deer Fence (LFA)" or "Deer Fence (NLFA)"
h. If you are happy with the details, Issue the Contract
Please note that the Woodland Creation Initial Planting Standard Costs have not been updated to the rates approved in the EU modification as the SSI has not yet been approved. The rates in the system are not expected to be updated until November.
Woodland Creation Rates
Option | LFA 80% | NLFA 70% |
WC - Productive Conifer Low Cost | £960.00 | £840.00 |
WC - Productive Conifer High Cost | £1120.00 | £980.00 |
WC - Productive Broadleaf Woodland | £1800.00 | £1575.00 |
WC - Native Woodland Planting | £1000.00 | £875.00 |
WC - Native Woodland Natural Regeneration | £720.00 | £630.00 |
WC - Mixed Conifer/Broadleaved Wood | £1680.00 | £1470.00 |
2. Variations will be rolled out to a small team of HQ staff in the first instance later on this week. Further information on this will follow.
6 October 2009
Woodland Creation Options
A new intervention rate of 80% for Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) has been introduced to the 6 Woodland Creation Options. Applicants within LFAs will now be entitled to apply for 80% funding for Standard Cost items.
6 October 2009
Following the recent announcement by the Cabinet Secretary at the Rural Gathering near Perth we can confirm that the Rural Priorities Community Services and Facilities option will be shortly be transferred into the LEADER Programme, a mechanism of the SRDP which closely relates to the options's themes of community empowerment.
Therefore, following the Regional Proposal Assessment Committees (RPACs) sitting this November, all future projects will be assessed by LEADER Local Action Groups (LAGs).
Further details on the change will be available in the coming weeks and applicants are advised to check the LEADER website for further details as they emerge. Final applications already committed for the upcoming RPAC will not be affected and will be considered as normal.
2 October 2009
A planned shutdown of the RDC Rural Priorities Front Office Data Capture will take place on Tuesday 6 October 2009 from 8am to 1pm to allow system improvements to take place. The system will be unavailable for use during this period.
16 September 2009
Rural Priorities - Results from the August RPAC assessment round are announced.
8 September 2009
An extension to the deadline for committed cases for the Autumn assessment round has been announced.
3 September 2009
Substantial Rise in Community Grant Rates
Following the recommendations of Peter Cook, whose review was published in June, we are pleased to announce changes to the grant rate for community projects.
From today, all new applications coming in under the Community Services and Facilities (CSF) option will be considered for a 90% grant rather than the 50% currently in operation.
Applicants should note that the cut off date for submissions for the November RPACs has now passed, therefore all projects approved in this round will have the 50% rate applied. The new grant rate will apply to projects approved from Spring 2010 onwards.
Further details of dates for 2010 assessment rounds will be announced shortly.
17 August 2009
Improvements to Rural Priorities, including the ongoing approval of non-contentious forestry cases, and updates to guidance on renewable energy options, have been announced.
13 August 2009
The following 3 capital items have been added to the Capital Item list eligible under the option: 'Woodland Improvement Grant - Woodland Habitats and Species': 1. Removal of tree crop to waste 3m-6m high; 2. Woodland Clearance benefiting raised bog/blanket bog - felling to waste; 3. Woodland Clearance benefiting raised bog/blanket bog - felling and extraction.
30 July 2009
A planned shutdown of the RDC Rural Priorities Front Office Data Capture will take place today, Thursday 30 July 2009 from 6pm to 7pm for essential system maintenance. The system will be unavailable for use during this period.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
27 July 2009
Statement of Intent Assessment and Feedback Bypass
An amendment to the Rural Priorities process has been announced, as recommended by the Cook review. Applicants can now speed up the process by bypassing Statement of Intent (SoI) assessment and feedback. For detailed information on how to bypass the SoI assessment please see the Statement of Intent Applicant and Agent guidance.
20 July 2009
Following the publication of the Cook review, we expect to be in a position to implement part of the first of the key Rural Priorities recommendations - the option to bypass the Statement of Intent (SoI) stage - before the end of July. In the first instance, applicants will be able to speed up the process by bypassing the SoI assessment and feedback. An option to completely bypass the SoI part of the application will go live with amended IT guidance soon.
The timescales for the other planned changes are still under discussion and regular updates will be provided as these are finalised.
20 July 2009
State Aid de minimis limit - temporary increase to €500,000
The European Commission has introduced a temporary new measure enabling a limited but higher amount of aid to be given as compatible State Aid.
The temporary limit has been raised to €500,000 per business, over a rolling 3-year period. For July 2009 this equates to £424,325. The up to date exchange rate can be found on the EC website.
This only applies to applications which receive approval on or before 31 December 2010, and is subject to the de minimis limitations as described on the State Aid pages on the Rural Priorities website.
17 July 2009
The Case Summary text field has now been increased in size to allow for the entry of more characters. This will allow users who are selecting new options within the Proposal stages in the Applicants and Agents part (Front Office) of the IT System to provide more meaningful and appropriate descriptions and supporting information.
14 July 2009
A planned shutdown of the Rural Priorities online application system will take place on the morning of Wednesday 15 July 2009, from 8am to 9am, for essential system maintenance. The system will be unavailable for use during this period.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
30 June 2009 - UPDATE
A planned shutdown of the Rural Priorities online application system will take place from the morning of Thursday 2 July 2009, until 1pm on Friday 3 July 2009, for essential system maintenance. The system will be unavailable for use during this period.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
30 June 2009
An I.T update has been made which gives Applicants the ability to apply for Actual Costs for works proposed in SSSI/Natura sites within the following Woodland Improvement Grant Options :-
- Woodland Improvement Grant - Reducing Deer Impact
- Woodland Improvement Grant - Woodland Habitats and Species
- Woodland Improvement Grant - Restructuring Regeneration
- Woodland Improvement Grant - Non Woodland Habitats
12 June 2009
Weekly updates on issue of Rural Priorities - Rural Development Contracts have now been published.
10 June 2009
The Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead today announced a new support package for rural Scotland. This is in light of the First Stage Review of the SRDP by Peter Cook, which was also published today.
28 May 2009
An update is now available on the Summer assessment round for Rural Priorities, including the £10 million funding for capital projects.
7 May 2009
Dates for the remaining Rural Priorities assessment rounds in 2009 have been announced.
24 April 2009
An update on the Rural Priorities budget, present to the SRDP Programme Monitoring Committee on 23 April, is now available to view.
20 April 2009
Information for applicants, agents and staff is available which covers the new I.T. system updates and enhancements.
7 April 2009
Rural Priorities - Future RPAC dates are being considered, and a decision has been taken to postpone the June RPAC round.
6 April 2009
Guidance on how to submit a Annual Recurrent claim (Form RP1) is now on the website. Guidance for staff on processing claims is also available.
2 April 2009
Approvals from the February assessment round have been announced.
26 March 2009
Action required by businesses who used the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) as their SRDP agent.
19 March 2009
Guidance on how to submit a manual capital claim is now on the website. Guidance for staff on processing claims is also available.
27 February 2009
New payment rates for certain Rural Priorities Options have been announced. Options affected include Woodland Improvement Grant and Area Access Management.
26 February 2009
New guidance on project expenditure and eligible costs has now been published.
20 February 2009
New entrants to farming
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead today announced an expansion to the Rural Priorities Option supporting new entrants to farming, during a speech to the National Farmers' Union Scotland conference in Aviemore. The changes mean that new farmers will now be able to apply for interest rate relief on loans used to purchase livestock.
For fuller details of Mr Lochhead's speech, please see the press release. For details of the support available through the new entrants Option under Rural Priorities, please see the Option guidance.
12 February 2009
Guidance on applying State Aid Rules has now been published for Applicants and Case Officers.
3 February 2009
Rural Priorities contracts
We have begun to issue formal contracts for projects approved at the first three assessment rounds. We will continue to issue the remaining contracts throughout February, with the expectation that these should be largely up-to-date by the end of February.
Payment of Outcome Plan Claims
In accordance with guidance contained in the Outcome Plan Claim Workflow, SGRPID Area Offices have been submitting authorised Outcome Plan Claims to the Scottish Government's Rural Payments Team in Edinburgh for manual payment.
The Rural Payments Team started the process of paying these claims on Thursday 22 January. There is a slight backlog at present but the team are working hard to pay these claims as quickly as possible.
SRDP Review
A rural expert has been appointed to undertake a review of the £1.6 billion Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP).
Peter Cook, an independent consultant and former head of rural business at the Scottish Agricultural College, will assist the Scottish Government and the SRDP Programme Monitoring Committee with a first stage review.
This review takes place before the full-scale review demanded of the Programme in 2010 and will take into account the impact of the economic downturn and the changing global agenda as well as identifying lessons to be learned following the first year of operation.
For details please see the full news release
20 January 2009
14 January 2009
19 December 2008
- The Generic and Option Specific Terms and Conditions have now been published in the Contracts Section of the website
12 December 2008
3 December 2008
27 November 2008
3 November 2008
Thursday 30 October 2008
Wednesday 29 October 2008
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Monday 29 September 2008
Wednesday 24 September 2008
Monday 22 September 2008
Tuesday 9 September 2008
Tuesday 9 September 2008
Wednesday 3 September 2008
Wednesday 3 September 2008
Tuesday 26 August 2008
Tuesday 12 August 2008
Tuesday 5 August 2008
- The August SRDP newsletter contains a section titled Call for Proposals, which has information about submitting Rural Priorities Proposals for consideration by the RPACs due to meet before the end of 2008.
Thursday 24 July 2008
- The generic guidance for Mapping is now published.
Friday 18 July 2008
Monday 14 July 2008
Monday 14 July 2008
Monday 14 July 2008
Thursday 10 July 2008
- Guidance for making Claims has now been published.
Monday 7 July 2008
You can now complete and submit a full Proposal for Rural Development Contracts - Rural Priorities using the Rural Payments Online application system.
If you wish to submit a Proposal, you should go to the Scottish Government website, at Rural Payments Online then follow the link to Rural Development Contracts, Rural Priorities, Proposal.
Once you have completed your Proposal, you can submit it to your Case Officer who will carry out an initial assessment, initiate any consultation required and provide you with feedback. You can then revise your Proposal and resubmit it.
Guidance on how to complete your Proposal is available to read and download from the "Guidance" list at the left hand side of the Rural Priorities page.
Please Note: The system will not allow you to finally "commit" your Proposal for formal assessment and scoring until the end of July 2008.
Information for Applicants wishing to apply for a Woodland Creation Option
Applicants applying for the Woodland Creation option will not be able to enter further details relating to this specific Option into the online Proposal screens until the end of July 2008.
Any applicant wishing to progress a Proposal which includes a Woodland Creation Option should contact their Case Officer for further information about how their Proposal can be progressed. They should also complete the Woodland Creation Outcome Plan template (shown in the list of "Forms" below left. This will allow the Case Officer to provide feedback on these options in advance of the end of July 2008.
Alternatively, you may choose to proceed with completing the details of any other options in your Proposal and add in the Woodland Creation option once you are able to do so online.
Please contact your Case Officer to confirm your intentions with regard to the Woodland Creation Option before submitting your Proposal.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by our continuing system development.
Thursday 3 July 2008
Friday 27 June 2008
Wednesday 18 June 2008
Friday 13 June 2008
Monday 9 June 2008
Friday 30 May 2008
Tuesday 27 May 2008
- You can now complete a Proposal Outcome Plan in Word (360kb). The form is also available in pdf format (156kb). You will need to download the pdf version if you do not have Microsoft Word.
Friday 25 April 2008
- Guidance on Customer Care and Complaints has now been published on the website. This provides details of our commitment to our customers and the process for submitting complaints.