Barriers to Training and Skills Development in Rural Areas: Resources

Duration: 24 March 2009 to 24 March 2009

The resource section amalgamates a collection of material relevent to each theme. Typical resources within this section include publications generated by government departments and other recognised research bodies together with links to the datasets containing the data used to generate these reports.

Consultation Response - A new ‘University Challenge’ consultation on proposals for new higher education centres
The Commission for Rural Communities reponse to the DIUS paper proposing strategies for new higher education centres.

Do you recognise rural?
This paper defines rurality:
> There are around 9.5 million people living in rural England, this equates to 20% of the total population
> Settlements with more than 10,000 people are classed as urban
> 11% of people employed in rural England are self employed
> There are just under 1500 banks in rural England
> 18% of England’s lone parents live in rural areas
> 18% of rural households are living in poverty (with income, before housing costs, less than 60% of median income)

Economic performance of rural regions inside and outside of city-regions
A statistical analysis of major datasets at district level was used to test three hypotheses. It sought to establish wether there were any differences between rural areas inside and outside of city regions.

Economic Well-Being and Economic Development Policy
This note has been produced as a think-piece for the Commission for Rural Communities, prior to the Roundtable on 9th April 2008 on economic well-being and economic development policy. The note looks at the concept of economic well-being in its various guises; how it is being used in current government policy; and it then explores potential policy issues and implications.

Email discussion transcript
Full list of posts from the email discussion that took place prior to the workshop.

Living Working Countryside
The Taylor Review (2008) of Rural Economy and Affordable Housing.

Possible Frameworks for Assessing Need in Relation to Rural Funding Streams
Peter Bibby from the Department of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield asks: Is it Possible to develop a framework which might be used to deploy evidence to guide various programmes of rural support in accordance with ‘needs’ and outcomes?

Rural development and the regional state: Denying multifunctional agriculture in the UK
Under the emerging rural development paradigm, it is argued that; to be multifunctional an activity must add income to agriculture, it must contribute to the construction of a new agricultural sector that corresponds to the needs of the wider society and it must reconfigure rural resources in ways that lead to wider rural development benefits. By evaluating UK rural policies on the basis of whether or not they attempt to meet these conditions, this paper shows that an implicit recognition of agriculture’s multifunctional character has occurred recently through the shift from a sectoral to a regional and territorial perspective that reintegrates farming into rural development. However, in practice, and especially in England, the UK government has been unable to turn multifunctional activities into a real rural development option. In fact, by continuing to support agri-industrial/retailer interests on the one hand, and post-productivist - environmental and amenity - interests on the other, the State is governing mostly by setting up competitively organized ‘projects’ and schemes that continue to justify the concentration (and limitation) of resources allocated to agriculture. Based upon a critique of policy developments over the past decade, this paper emphasizes the need for more innovative forms of state innovation that provide opportunities for new, creative and more spatially embedded forms of supply and demand management in agri-food. In the conclusions, the paper also argues that more critical research is needed to uncover the existing and potential role of both governments and producer networks in progressing sustainable rural development through agricultural multifunctionality.

Rural Economies Recession Intelligence December 2008
This report focuses on the rural housing market. Sales, prices and completions data show that although house prices in rural areas have fallen - with biggest falls in sparse areas - economic conditions mean that affordability in many rural areas has declined too.

Rural Economies Recession Intelligence February 2009
Many small and peripheral rural economies are seeing

• rapid and substantial increases in those registered for Job Seekers Allowance
• very low numbers of unfilled vacancies, and
• insufficient resources to offer local retraining.

This is so serious that CRC recommends the Secretary of State makes this the first ‘focus for advice’, as announced at our first rural Summit - for action by CRC, Regional Development Agencies and others.

Rural Economy Land Use Programme
The UK Rural Economy and Land Use Debates 2006

Rural Excellence Programme
Rural Excellence is a support programme and network for local authorities facing the unique challenge of delivering services to communities in sparsely populated areas. This paper outlines some of the ways in which the Rural Excellence Programme addresses these issues.

Rural Strategy 2004 (defra)
The Government’s three priorities for rural policy are:
1. Economic and Social Regeneration - supporting enterprise across rural England, but targeting greater resources at areas of greatest need.
2. Social Justice for All - tackling rural social exclusion wherever it occurs and providing fair access to services and opportunities for all rural people.
3. Enhancing the Value of our Countryside - protecting the natural environment for this and future generations.

These priorities will inform the Government’s rural policy for the next three to five years and the modernised delivery arrangements that will drive progress forward. This Strategy sets out the specific action that will be taken.

Social and economic change and diversity in rural England (defra)
This document represents the first output from a programme to understand the changing nature of rural England. The programme is designed to enhance Government’s ability to target policy delivery to reach those rural communities and businesses that most need support, for example in tackling disadvantage and poor economic performance, improving access to services and sustaining prosperity.

Speech by Dr. Stuart Burgess to the 80:20 Rural Vision Conference
Speech by Dr. Stuart Burgess to the 80:20 Rural Vision Conference

State of the countryside 2008
This report aims to be a ‘first port of call’ for those seeking factual information on social, economic and environmental issues in rural areas. It also adds commentary on the information that highlighted and on the trends that are emerging.

The report is one of the ways in which the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) seeks to deliver the ‘watchdog’ and ‘advisor’ roles set out in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act (2006).

State of the countryside update - Rural analysis of the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007
State of the countryside updates allow key national rural indicators to be monitored and to changes tracked over time.

As with the broader State of the countryside reporting, each update aims to assist in increasing the understanding of rural issues and to generate informed and active debate about the challenges facing rural England.

This, and other updates, are available via the website

The Draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the South West 2006 - 2026
This paper represents the consensual views of a meeting held on 9 August 2006 to which all members of SW CoRE were invited and at which the SWRAF was represented. It focuses on the main issues relating to rural areas in general and rural enterprise in particular.

The Full Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West 2006-2026
One of the key aims of the RSS is to translate strategy into proposals for the provision of new homes. Technical projections suggest that around 25,000 new homes per year could be needed to align with the 20 year population and economic forecasts, and contribute to the ‘Barker’ agenda. Consultation with Strategic Authorities suggest this figure may be incorrect. With this in mind, this paper has been drafted with the approach of ‘Plan, Monitor, Manage’ rather than ‘Predict and Provide’.

The Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 - A Summary
The full details of the Rural Development Programme for England 2007-2013, (as formally approved on 7 December 2007), are set out in a lengthy document. The full final approved Programme Document is available here
This paper summarises the content of the 16 Chapters that make up the full version. For full details of any element of the Programme, please refer to the complete document.

Workshop Presentation - Speech by Hilary Benn
Speech by Hilary Benn at the Commission for Rural Communities summit on Releasing the innovative potential of rural economies - Why the rural economy matters...

Youth unemployment in rural areas
Although the experiences of young people in rural areas are somewhat different from those of their urban counterparts, much of our knowledge about youth unemployment is derived from studies of urban youth. This study by Fred Cartmel and Andy Furlong of the University of Glasgow compares the experiences of 18- to 24-year-olds in urban and rural areas who have all recently encountered a period of unemployment. The specific experiences of rural youth are further investigated by a series of in-depth interviews with young people, employers and key professionals in four contrasting rural labour markets.

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SLIM researchers spend time looking for resources to support each Learning Theme. If you find any additional sites that contain information that others might find useful in exploring the theme please email us in order that we can add the link to the list.