The Rural Communities Policy Unit. Rural Proofing - update John - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Rural Communities Policy Unit.

Rural Proofing - update

John Coleman

Head of Rural Service, National Tourism Lead, Head of Rural Proofing Review

• Defra Ministers lead and champion rural policy across

Government

• Rural policy functions within Defra - Rural Communities Policy

Unit (RCPU) – Centre of rural expertise

• A shift at the way we look at rural England – sustainable

growth - unlocking rural potential

• While retaining a focus on securing fair, efficient and

affordable outcomes for rural communities

• Ultimately – our end game is mainstreaming, not special

consideration.

Our approach to rural proofing ...

Four core drivers to our rural proofing

Advocacy Evidence

Open and Transparent

Scrutiny

• Structured dialogue to share

national to local policy perspectives,

• pportunities and challenges
• Research projects are jointly funded

(across Government) and collaborative in nature.

• More transparent: Impact

Assessments and annual reports and accounts – all now include rural proofing assessments.

• Scrutiny: Efra Select Committee

continue to take a real interest in our

• work. But we are going further…
• A Rural Proofing Implementation

review within government is now underway,

• Led by Lord Cameron of Dillington,

a former rural advocate

The Rural proofing review

Initial observations ….

• Generally,

good awareness

• f

rural proofing responsibilities at senior levels within departments, although not always

• A

clear appetite to understand more about what departments can and should be doing in relation to rural proofing – with Defra’s support

• Not unsurprisingly, there are differing ways in which rural

proofing practices and principles are being applied

• Rural

proofing benefits from inter-departmental co-

• peration and coordination
• Localism means there is an imperative for local level rural

proofing to play its part

The Rural Proofing review

• Improvements to the IA Guidance with workshops to improve assessment of

policy impacts before policies come to write round

• Improvements to departments’ knowledge and skills in relation to rural issues,

including facilitated workshops from RCPU

• Improved use of rural data sets, and better understanding of rural challenges
• Finding ways to overcome the ‘tick box’ culture in departments which has led to

the lack of understanding identified in the review. For example, can the cabinet write round processes help here?

• It would encourage evidence on rural impacts to be mainstreamed early and

would foster transparent discussion on rural proofing eg for the departmental annual reports, accounts and impact assessments.

• But, getting the systems right at the start of the policy making cycle is more

feasible and helpful

Rural Proofing and Health.

Martin Gorringe

Rural Services Team

Why Rural Proof Health?

• Positive health outcomes for rural areas = health equity
• Significant inequalities around access to services
• Access to GP’s -
• Travel distance – acute centres and specialist treatment =

further away

• Distance decay – patients access services less the further

away they are.

• Cost of service provision – Community care, economies of

scale, staff retention

Why Rural Proof Health?

• 80% of rural residents live within 4km of a GP

Surgery, compared with 98% of urban population

• 57% of rural residents live within 4km of an NHS

Dentist, compared with 98% of urban population

• Around one-sixth of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs)

with the worst health and deprivation indicators were located in rural or significantly rural areas.

• www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/rural
• www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-rural-proofing-guidelines

Rural Proofing for Health Toolkit