Effective Service Delivery

47. "Rural Framework" identified the need for public bodies to structure themselves in such a way that they work closely with local communities, and to bring different services together at local level to provide more coherent and co-ordinated delivery. We endorse these principles and would extend the theme to encompass the very important element of information to rural communities as a vital way to ensure that people are aware and can make sense of what is on offer.

48. The move reported in "Rural Framework" of national agencies operating through a devolved system of local offices has continued. For example SNH has established 4 Regional Offices, each with its own Board and a network of 13 Area Offices. Its "Natural Standards" initiative based on the Citizen's Charter aims to ensure effective responses to enquiries and requests for advice. Similarly, SAC has maintained a regional structure of 24 Regional Advisory Offices, 8 Veterinary Centres and 3 Centres of Study. It has also published "Commitment to Service" a Charter Statement of Service Standards. Scottish Homes restructured its Development Funding network in 1992 and now has 7 District Offices and 14 locally based Development Funding Units. A country-wide network of telephone enquiry points has been established from which members of the public can contact The Scottish Office free of charge. In many rural areas the enquiry points are situated in the local offices of the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department which serve all parts of rural Scotland. The Department has also published Charter Standard statements for farmers and crofters.

49. Local authorities, as part of local government reorganisation, will have to submit decentralisation plans which show how they will devolve decision-making to local areas. Local authorities have been active in considering how to organise service delivery in rural areas and a variety of different schemes exist. In Annandale and Eskdale for example the council has established one scheme to pool leisure and recreation equipment for loan to rural communities and another to provide free transport to and from rural areas to allow young people to participate in leisure programmes operated throughout the District. A similar scheme operates in East Lothian. In Fife Region, local service offices have been established in certain rural communities to promote community involvement in service delivery. Several post offices in more remote communities provide information about regional council services. Highland Regional Council established a Community Development Projects Initiative to assist community-based projects such as rural swimming pools, rural post offices and heritage centres. With the benefit of European funding, the Council has also developed a system for public information and service provision to rural areas, based on public multi-media computer terminals which enables public services which are routinely available in urban centres to be made available cost effectively to the most rural areas. Several local authorities run small business and rural shop assistance schemes.

50. The Scottish Sports Council commissioned a research study in 1992 with the aim of identifying a set of design principles applicable to small rural sports halls. The outcome of the study was a recommendation for a 3 badminton court hall with ancillary accommodation, designed with flexibility and multi-use in mind. The SHIRTS (Sports Halls in Rural Towns in Scotland) project aims to address the common problem of a small town (less than 10,000 people) which requires a sports centre but finds it difficult to meet the capital or revenue costs. The first SHIRTS hall opened in Turriff in November 1994. The Sports Council's Demonstration Programme assisted in the capital funding of the hall, in addition to a 3 badminton court hall, fitness room and a social area, an outdoor floodlit multi games area has been built adjoining the hall to maximise the use of the centre. This outdoor area enables pitched based sports to be played outside, thus freeing the hall for other sports and activities. The hall has been designed so as to enable non-sports use such as amateur dramatics. The Scottish Sports Council have also undertaken research into determining the requirements of small communities throughout Scotland for combined sports and community facilities.

51. There is also evidence of co-operative working between agencies at a local level through joint research and a large number of partnership projects. All the Rural Focus Group member organisations contribute to joint work of this kind. Examples of local joint working which aim to deliver a service more effectively include the Orkney Opportunities Centre which delivers training and education advice through a partnership of the LEC, the local authority and the careers service. This is now being replicated in the Lochaber Opportunities Centre in Forth William. Initiatives such as the Angus Glens Initiative, and the Rural Stirling Partnership are multi-partner initiatives aimed at involving communities in integrated rural development. The Douglas Valley Partnership is a community based regeneration programme supported by Lanarkshire Development Agency, actively engaging the community in the design and development of proposals, and enabling properly targeted action. The mechanisms and structures developed through this partnership are intended to enable a broad integrated approach to economic development with community involvement at each stage of the decision making process. Local authorities and Scottish Homes have worked together to set up Local Housing Agencies in the Western Isles and south Roxburgh. These agencies provide local co-ordinated service delivery in their areas. A number of rural local authorities are working with housing associations and Scottish Homes to establish a single waiting list for access to housing. Tayside Regional Council have established a Rural Area Service Team in Highland Perthshire to improve service delivery at the local level. It includes representatives from the regional and district councils and the local NHS trust.

52. We view the delivery of information to rural areas as an important element of providing good services and an opportunity for collaboration. The growth of new forms of information delivery is worthy of note. Examples include the Scottish Homes support to voluntary agencies providing housing information and advice in rural areas, such as the Buchan Advice Bus and the LEC One Stop Shops. Citizen's Advice Scotland have received funding from Scottish Power and British Telecom to provide a national telephone helpline facility which will be available at local call rates and are also developing information and advice services in rural communities by using Information Technology to link bureaux which will enable information sharing. The HIE Network "Business Information Source" in Inverness provides a single publicised point of contact for business in the Highlands and Islands. It brings together Highlands and Islands Enterprise Library, Highland Regional Council's Euroinfo Centre, a mainstream business information service and the Scottish Agricultural College computerised land management and mapping services. The Rural Focus Group has paid particular attention to the question of information provision and commissioned research on this subject from Peter Gibson Associates and SAC. The Rural Focus Group will publish a summary of these reports.

53. This is an area where there is considerable scope for further progress to be made. It is encouraging that decentralisation of service delivery and decision-making has developed to the extent that most national agencies in Scotland have offices either in or easily accessible to rural areas which can deliver services that are sensitive to local needs. There are also many partnerships at local level in terms of joint funding, collaborative research and the giving of advice on various matters. This now needs to be taken forward to address the delivery of joint services, where there are far fewer examples to report. The potential for joint sharing of premises, staff and information networks has yet to be fully realised and we believe that this is an area where more work to consider the possibilities and encourage experimental arrangements would be of great value. The provision of information services show an encouraging trend towards greater quality and accessibility. Experiments with new information technology should be evaluated and where appropriate replicated elsewhere.