Supporting development of the Rural Delivery Plan

Work to develop Scotland's Rural Delivery Plan (RDP) continues to be taken forward by Scottish Government and helping to inform this programme is the work of the Rural Exchange.

The Rural Exchange is a platform for people living and working across Scotland's rural and island communities to have their voices heard in both research and policy-making and to access pertinent research reports and data. It acts as a knowledge exchange hub for a number of projects funded by the Scottish Government's 2022-2027 Strategic Research Programme for the environment, natural resources and agriculture.

In December 2022, Scottish Government committed to apply a rural lens to projects funded under the Scottish Government's National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET), which was published earlier the same year.  Applying this rural lens ensures that all activities that are part of NSET take account of the specific circumstances of Scotland's rural communities.

To support this activity, the SRUC was awarded SEFARI Gateway funding to set up a Specialist Advisory Group (SAG) to provide advice to rural policy officials in the Scottish Government on designing rural lens guidance for their policy colleagues across government. Six academics comprised the SAG membership, all of whom have worked on various aspects of rural policies and policy-making, including rural proofing - an alternative term for applying a rural lens - in various countries.

The SAG's initial work focused on providing comments on early drafts of the rural lens guidance, based on their knowledge and experience of how rural proofing has been undertaken using similar tools in other countries, including Northern Ireland and England. 

After this work started, a Scottish Government commitment was made in April 2023 that a RDP would be published by 2026 demonstrating how all parts of the Scottish Government are delivering for rural Scotland. In response to this announcement the work of the SAG shifted to focus more on sharing learning from the use of theories of change, data and evidence and indicators - described in the SAG's recently published report to help inform development of the RDP. 

Rural Affairs and Islands Secretary Mairi Gougeon said:

“The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to build vibrant, sustainable and inclusive rural and island communities, now and for future generations.

Fully understanding the challenges faced by rural and island communities is crucial to addressing their specific needs. The insight and recommendations from this research, combined with hearing directly from rural and island communities themselves, will be valuable as we develop the plan, which will ensure that a rural lens is applied to all ongoing policy.”

First Minister John Swinney, and Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, remain committed to the RDP with planning work continuing to deliver the plan, led by the Ministerial Working Group.

Read the full report here - Informing Scotland's Rural Delivery Plan and Rural Lens: Evidence, Indicators and Evaluation.

Access the Rural Exchange here

* Members of SAG: Senior Lecturer Dr. Jane Atterton, Professor Lorna Philip, Emeritus Professor Mark Shucksmith, Dr. Mags Currie, Dr. Ana Vuin and Professor Sally Shortall.