SCVO's Response to Scottish Government's Rural Delivery Plan Consultation

A Vision for Rural Scotland

The purpose of this vision is to clarify the long-term goal and the overarching purpose of the Rural Delivery Plan. Scottish Government want this to provide direction towards a shared future for rural Scotland.

Draft vision for rural Scotland:

"Our vision is for a vibrant, sustainable, equal and inclusive rural Scotland, with its diverse rural communities thriving across economic, cultural, social and environmental dimensions, feeding, powering, inspiring, providing homes and livelihoods to, and nurturing the wellbeing of current and future generations"

1. Do you agree with the proposed vision for rural Scotland?

 Yes 

Strategic Objectives for Rural Scotland

The strategic objectives outline the high-level aims across each of the overarching topics relevant to mainland rural Scotland. These describe the kind of rural Scotland Scottish Government want to see. The detail on how they will deliver for rural Scotland will be provided for each strategic objective when they publish the Rural Delivery Plan.

3. Do you agree with the proposed strategic objective for economy and digital connectivity?

Proposed Strategic Objective:

"To support and promote an inclusive, innovative, productive, and sustainable wellbeing rural economy, providing direct benefits for local communities, revitalising them through the growth of the green economy, and delivering robust and inclusive access to digital infrastructure and services across rural Scotland."

Partially

4 . Do you wish to comment?

Comment on the proposed strategic objective for economy and digital connectivity

There is nothing wrong with the objective, however the issue will be in how it is being implemented locally. For that reason, we are of the view that the objective should also refer to the importance of working in partnership across sectors (public, private, voluntary), focusing especially on the key role played by voluntary organisations as economic actors and enablers in rural areas.

With over 46,500 organisations across Scotland, the voluntary sector is wide-reaching and covers every area of society. This includes 23,600 Scottish charities and over 1,000 UK-wide charities operating in Scotland. SCVO is doing a lot of work on village and community halls for example that are essential to this consultation.

Community spaces like village and community halls are the backbone of many of our communities, particularly in rural areas. They fulfil many functions from community cohesion, wellbeing, arts and sports venues, social enterprises such as cafes to childcare, care for the elderly and much more. They are run by volunteers and depend largely on fund-raising and public donations. Many are doing innovative things around the environment and community capacity building. More should be done to invest in these spaces for the benefit of the whole community. The Victoria and Albert Halls Trust in Ballater is a great example of the importance of these places. The Trust runs baby and toddler groups, a repair shop and a café, as well as various activities for a wide range of people. You can see more stories here.

Despite being an #EssentialSector, the voluntary sector remains invisible in discussions about budgets or economic development. Voluntary organisations play a fundamental role in the economy, in helping to mitigate and tackle the impacts of poverty and inequality that are such a drain on economic and societal wellbeing. The sector also has significant capabilities and capacity, and contributes to the economy in a way that is inclusive, sustainable, and good for environmental and human wellbeing, as well as traditional financial economic growth.

34% of voluntary organisations are based in remote or rural locations (based on postcode of their main office) despite only 21% of the Scottish population living in these areas.

5. Do you agree with the proposed strategic objective for population, education and skills?

Proposed Strategic Objective:

"To support sustainable local communities by addressing population challenges in rural Scotland, to equip people with the skills, resources and education to develop a highly valued and adaptive workforce, and to ensure that workforce is supported to work through high quality, accessible and affordable childcare across rural Scotland."

Partially

6. Do you wish to comment?

Comment on the proposed strategic objective for population, education and skills

We believe the objective outlined above should refer to Fair Work and flexible working to reflect the Scottish Government’s commitment to the Scottish workforce. The voluntary sector in Scotland employs just over 136,000 people, making up 5% of the Scottish workforce. Employability programmes are also key in equipping people with the right skills and should be supported in rural areas too.

The voluntary sector is supportive of Fair Work. Our workforce makes a huge contribution across Scotland, offering a lifeline to people, families, and communities as the cost-of-living crisis bites. This lifeline shouldn’t need to be extended to voluntary sector staff. In 2023, GCVS report on Fair Work in the Third Sector found that fewer than half of respondents felt that they are fairly paid for the work that they do, and fewer still felt they have parity of pay with other sectors. The lack of job security also is a major area of concern for the sector’s workforce. This is usually as a direct result of short-term funding arrangements and late confirmation of funding for posts. Fair Work matters because it is a central pillar to the sustainability of the sector and delivering quality outcomes across the country.

We also believe that volunteering is essential and can help many people develop essential skills. That element should not be overlooked when we talk about workforce. Over 830,000 people volunteered in Scotland in 2023, and there are over 200,000 charity and community group trustees across the country, all doing so voluntarily. In 2022, volunteering was estimated to be worth £5.3 billion to Scotland’s economy. Despite the clear benefits, the 2022 Scottish Household survey found that the adult (16+) formal volunteer participation rate has fallen to 22%, down from 26% in 2019. The time contributed by volunteers has also decreased, with 61 million fewer volunteering hours in 2022 compared with 2018. As indicated by Volunteer Scotland this is equivalent to a £132 million decrease in the contribution of volunteering to Scotland’s economy. Volunteering brings in additional skills, experience, and much-needed support to organisations and communities throughout the country.

7. Do you agree with the proposed strategic objective for social justice?

Proposed Strategic Objective:

"To address rural poverty and existing economic, social and environmental inequalities across rural Scotland, to empower local communities to ensure Scotland's natural capital is owned and used fairly, and that our rural communities can access high quality, affordable and accessible services and facilities that positively enhance their lives."

Partially

8. Do you wish to comment?

Comment on the proposed strategic objective for social justice

As indicated in questions above, there is nothing wrong with the current objective per se, however the issue will be in how it is being implemented locally. For that reason, we are of the view that the objective should also refer to the importance of working in partnership across sectors (public, private, voluntary), focusing especially on the key role played by voluntary organisations as economic actors and enablers in rural areas.

With over 46,500 organisations across Scotland, the voluntary sector is wide-reaching and covers every area of society. This includes 23,600 Scottish charities and over 1,000 UK-wide charities operating in Scotland. The figure also includes over 20,000 community groups not registered as charities. Small charities (under £100k and new charities) make up 80% of the charity sector, but account for only 4% of its annual turnover – they have a large social impact but only a small financial footprint. Large charities with incomes over £1m make up only 3.5% of the sector but these 947 charities account for 80% of the sector's annual income. Over half of all voluntary organisations are involved in Social Care, Culture and Sport, or Community Development activities.

34% of voluntary organisations are based in remote or rural locations (based on postcode of their main office) despite only 21% of the Scottish population living in these areas.

Increasingly, we see community asset transfers of buildings that were previously run by the local council or were private businesses. These can be at the heart of local communities, maintaining spaces for people to meet, run social enterprises and engage in the arts, provide childcare and lots more. They depend on volunteers, ad hoc grants and local fundraising.

13. Do you agree with the proposed strategic objective for environment and climate change?

Proposed strategic objective:

"To contribute to national action to address the threat of climate change and to restore nature, alongside seizing the economic opportunities and community benefits from a circular economy and the just transition to net zero."

Partially

14. Do you wish to comment?

Comment on the proposed strategic objective for environment and climate change

The strategic objective omits to encompass the need to adapt to our changing climate in addition to reducing our emissions and journey to net zero. The voluntary sector plays a pivotal role in supporting this work, particularly in rural settings. This must be recognised and closely correlated with building community resilience including the role of place-based working and local assets such as community spaces/village halls.  

Moreover, rural communities are increasingly developing their own wind turbines and renewable energy generators, contributing to the national grid. They are required to sell the energy to the grid at a set price, but households and businesses in those communities then have to pay a higher price to buy it back. The discourse around renewable energy is often focused on big corporates, but there needs to be recognition that communities make a contribution too – and don’t make a profit.

19. Do you have any further comments on the proposed strategic objectives?

Further comments on the proposed strategic objectives

It is not explicitly apparent how the plan’s vision and objectives align with other economic schemes like Regional Economic Partnerships, City Growth Deals, or the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. It would be helpful to make this much clearer as the economic development landscape is already cluttered.  We must start linking policies, visions and objectives together better.

It would also be helpful to highlight the link with the current National Performance Framework and how the plan, objectives and indicators fit with NPF.

Key Performance Indicators

The Rural Delivery Plan will establish a set of key performance indicators for mainland rural Scotland, enabling evidence-based policy making and allowing the Scottish Government to prioritise future spend and focus action on areas of greatest impact.

6. Comment on the data indicators for economy and digital connectivity

In our view, the indicators suggested above will help measure to a limited extent only. Based on our comments above, we would like to see indicators that relate to the state and role of the voluntary sector in rural areas, including tourism for example.  Scotland’s tourism industry couldn’t survive without voluntary organisations. Most of our visitor attractions and heritage sites are charities, organisations like youth hostels and the Ramblers’ Association are also charities. Particularly in rural areas, community transport and social enterprises form a significant part of the basic infrastructure. More evidence and resources on this topic can be found here.

It would also be helpful to add indicators to measure the existence and effectiveness of partnerships across sectors in rural places. There is also something lacking here about the benefits to local communities and how we measure that.

Finally do ‘businesses’ referred to above include firms like social enterprises? Again, the economic contribution of Scotland’s social enterprises is important with £2.63bn Gross Value Added. There are around 90,000 full time equivalent jobs provided by 6,000 social enterprises in Scotland. 33% of the total number of social enterprises is in rural Scotland, delivering essential public services to local communities. These enterprises put profits and surpluses towards social and environmental missions that are key to a sustainable and inclusive economy (Social Enterprise 2021 Census).

9. Comment on the data indicators for population, education and skills

Like in our answer above, we believe that the proposed indicators would only measure success to a limited extent. We believe that indicators on employability and Fair Work for example would help get a better understanding of what is happening locally. An indicator on the role of social enterprises may also be useful.

12. Comment on the data indicators for social justice

Again under this objective, it is imperative to have indicators measuring the success and effectiveness of partnership working across sectors.

It would also be helpful to focus a lot more on the role and contribution of voluntary organisations here, in supporting people and communities and delivering public services.

21. Comment on the data indicators for environment and climate change

Again, the indicators above look rather random and limited. There is nothing to measure the impact of circular economy for example, and overall the indicators would benefit from including more people and relationship focused metrics too.

On the point about the circular economy, we know that 88% of voluntary organisations are local. Many of them work with small and medium businesses in their area to supply their venues or book local spaces and services to deliver support and events. A good example of this is The Reuse Consortium that is working with the public sector on developing a circular economy. Over the past six and a half year, they provided more than 29,000 items of furniture to local projects thus helping 13,400 low-income households, and more than 1 million tonnes of waste was diverted from landfill. They also purchased to the value of about £2.9m from local social enterprises. The sector's contribution often goes unnoticed in relation to this, but it is significant, bringing additional money into local economies throughout Scotland (Royal Society of Edinburgh).

We also wonder if it would be possible to tie the indicators with other SG projects that are being evaluated, e.g. add the number of rural organisations/members that Scotland’s Climate Hubs are working with.

There is also no reference to any metrics around the built environment – could there be something added around an indicator of public/third sector assets retrofitted/improved?  

Finally, in relation to the energy generation indicator, it would be useful to understand what proportion of renewable energy community generated renewable energy makes up.

27. Do you wish to comment further?

Overall, it would be helpful to provide further information as to how the plan will interact with other economic development projects and/or partnerships in rural areas and how it aligns with the Scottish Government’s economic priorities.

It is important to ensure that the Rural Delivery Plan is as efficient as possible, as soon as possible, and we therefore welcome the focus on ‘robust and appropriate indicators’. But to comprehensively assess the impact of the plan, we believe that more indicators must be added. and new data collected to better reflect the variety of actors in rural areas and the contribution they all make.