73. It is not the function of this report to review overall trends in rural Scotland over the past 3 years. To do so would involve a clear statement of the overall aims of rural policy, followed by an analysis of changes in specific indicators related to the aims - for example population trends, employment and unemployment, environmental indicators, and the incidence of rural disadvantage. The aims of this report are more modest: to examine how far the themes set out in "Rural Framework" have been put into action over the last three years.

74. Even this task faces a fundamental problem in that the "Rural Framework" themes are described in qualitative terms only. Their purpose was to develop a new language rather than to set out an operational blueprint. A rigorous assessment of progress and identification of good practice is in the strictest sense not possible unless clearer criteria and targets are set against which performance can be measured. The "Rural Framework" themes are therefore only a beginning, and we suggest the next step should be a more systematic attempt to define the criteria by which good practice can be identified. A start on this has already been made in the case of some themes, for example the research which The Scottish Office has commissioned on community involvement.

75. It is nevertheless possible in a less rigorous way to take stock of progress over the last 3 years, based on the examples set out in Section 2 in relation to each of the "Rural Framework" themes. Overall, we believe encouraging progress has been made. For example, there is widespread support from public and private bodies in rural Scotland for the concept of partnership and the desirability of working towards a more integrated rural policy. The setting up of the Rural Focus Group was itself an important step in furthering partnership at national level. The activities of Rural Focus Group, through discussion of key issues, research, promotion of improved information, improved collaboration, and the identification and encouragement of innovatory approaches to rural development, have helped to ensure that each of the member bodies represented on Rural Focus Group see their work within a wider context. We believe the Rural Focus Group provides a good basis on which to build. There are also many examples of local partnerships set up by various bodies for different purposes over the last three years. We believe there is scope for more local partnerships, and a need for the experience and successes of existing partnerships to be disseminated on a more systematic basis.

76. Turning to the individual themes of "Rural Framework", more obvious progress has been made on some themes than on others. For example, there is increased recognition of the importance of community involvement in rural development, not only in the sense of being consulted by public sector bodies before decisions are taken but more fundamentally in terms of the benefits of empowering communities to promote their own ideas for community-led development. Developments such as the Scottish Homes Personal Housing Plans initiative have demonstrated some of the potential from this approach.

77. The other themes where important developments have certainly occurred are more effective service delivery, particularly in relation to decentralisation and the provision of better information to customers; Europe, where the designation of much of rural Scotland under Objective 1 and 5b has been a catalyst for the preparation of local plans by partnership teams to draw down the substantial European Funds now available; and sustainability, where our understanding of the scope of this concept has improved and some useful steps taken towards its practical implementation. The pursuit of quality in rural Scotland has also been a major objective over the past 3 years and some success has been achieved, exemplified by developments in the tourism and food and drink industries. In the case of the remaining themes (diversity, local value added, and networks and communications), arguably less has been achieved but it needs to be recognised that progress has been made more difficult by the existence of strong economic forces operating towards specialisation and centralisation of economic activity. Despite these adverse trends, the examples given in Section 2 illustrate the major opportunities which exist for rural Scotland, for example in the field of electronic communications.

78. In conclusion, we believe the Rural Focus Group could play an important part in developing the principles of "Rural Framework", taking account of the conclusions of the Government's Rural White Paper. In our view, what is now needed is a more systematic programme of research, monitoring and evaluation which will identify examples of good practice in relation to "Rural Framework" themes and disseminate this information to all those involved in the continued development of rural Scotland.