§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) when her Department will have rural proofing embedded in policy-making procedures as set out in the Countryside Agency's report, Rural Proofing in 2001–02; [54429]
(2) when her Department will implement proofing and checklist measures as part of overall rural proofing measures set out in the Countryside Agency's report, Rural Proofing in 2001–02. [54434]
§ Alun MichaelThe Government have made a firm commitment to rural proof all relevant policies and for performance to be monitored independently by the Countryside Agency. This innovative approach—described as "courageous" by the agency's chairman Ewen Cameron, when his first report was published on 11 April this year—applies across Government and to agencies and other Government bodies.
The first report concludes that a great deal has been achieved since this approach was proposed in the Rural White Paper in November 2000, but that much more needs to be done to make rural proofing fully effective. The report sets out details of the checklist devised by the Countryside Agency as an appendix.
Following the decision to implement the strong rural agenda set out in the White Paper, a number of other changes have taken place. In June 2001, the new Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs came into being. For the first time, there is a Minister of 274W State for Rural Affairs and a director general within DEFRA backed by a team with a clear focus on rural social and economic issues and on implementation of the Rural White Paper. A Cabinet sub-committee, chaired by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has a specific focus on rural affairs. The Minister of State for Rural Affairs has met Ministerial colleagues across Government to discuss the challenges of delivering services in rural areas.
The implementation of rural proofing is a process across Government. Responsibility lies with each individual Department but DEFRA and the Countryside Agency are working together to develop rural-proofing strategies and to rural proof individual policies.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department will introduce measures to raise rural awareness through staff(a) training, (b) development and (c) secondments as part of overall rural proofing measures as set out in the Countryside Agency's report, Rural Proofing in 2001–02. [54417]
§ Alun MichaelThe Government have made a firm commitment to rural proof all relevant policies and for performance to be monitored independently by the Countryside Agency. This innovative approach—described as "courageous" by the agency's chairman, Ewen Cameron when his first report was published on 11 April this year—applies across Government and to agencies and other Government bodies.
The first report concludes that a great deal has been achieved since this approach was proposed in the Rural White Paper in November 2000. but that much more needs to be done to make rural proofing fully effective. The report sets out details of the checklist devised by the Countryside Agency as an appendix.
Following the decision to implement the strong rural agenda set out in the White Paper, a number of other changes have taken place. In June 2001, the new Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs came into being. For the first time, there is a Minister of State for Rural Affairs and a director general within DEFRA backed by a team with a clear focus on rural social and economic issues and on implementation of the Rural White Paper. A Cabinet sub-committee, chaired by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has a specific focus on rural affairs. The Minister of State for Rural Affairs has met ministerial colleagues across Government to discuss the challenges of delivering services in rural areas.
Each Government Department has put in place arrangements to respond to the requirements of rural proofing and the Treasury, for instance, has a secondee from the Countryside Agency working with their officials on rural proofing work. Rural proofing is also one of the forms of policy assessment that the Centre for Management and Policy Studies in the Cabinet Office introduces as appropriate during its training for civil servants on policy making.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department will establish rural targets and monitoring as 275W part of overall rural proofing measures as set out in the Countryside Agency's report "Rural Proofing in 2001–02". [54424]
§ Alun MichaelThe Government have made a firm commitment to rural proof all relevant policies and for performance to be monitored independently by the Countryside Agency. This innovative approach—described as "courageous" by the agency's chairman, Ewen Cameron, when his first report was published on 11 April this year—applies across Government and to agencies and other Government bodies.
The first report concludes that a great deal has been achieved since this approach was proposed in the Rural White Paper in November 2000, but that much more needs to be done to make rural proofing fully effective. The report sets out details of the checklist devised by the Countryside Agency as an appendix.
Following the decision to implement the strong rural agenda set out in the White Paper, a number of other changes have taken place. In June 2001, the new Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs came into being. For the first time there is a Minister of State for Rural Affairs and a Director General within DEFRA backed by a team with a clear focus on rural social and economic issues and on implementation of the Rural White Paper. A Cabinet Sub-Committee, chaired by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has a specific focus on rural affairs. The Minister of Stare for Rural Affairs has met Ministerial colleagues across Government to discuss the challenges of delivering services in rural areas.
The Rural Services Standard, as set out in the Rural White Paper (Our Countryside: the future (Cm4909)) sets targets for the individual services delivered by Government. It is monitored for DEFRA by the Countryside Agency, and its content is currently being reviewed. Some individual Departments also have their own rural targets within their public service or service delivery agreements. Proposed public service agreement targets for 2003–04 and beyond are under discussion as part of the current Spending Review.
As the agency's annual report recommends, the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Rural Renewal will review progress in the autumn, and take a close and continuing interest in the subject generally. The Countryside Agency will report again next year on progress with rural proofing, so there is a regular external monitoring and evaluation process.