Rural Scotland People, Prosperity and Partnership
Improving Information for Rural ScotlandWe are committed to improving the flow of information to people in rural Scotland about the assistance and services available to them. With electronic communications, distance no longer needs to be the disadvantage for rural Scotland that was once the case. Improved information on, for example, the existing standards of public services, and on financial incentives available for various kinds of activity, is a prerequisite for informed choice and community-based rural development. The Government have already taken a number of initiatives, and we look to build on these through the Scottish Rural Partnership in future. We intend that publicly-funded services, whether the responsibility of central or local government, should be fully available to rural dwellers, including the least well-off and others without their own transport. Where the population is dispersed, service providers will not always be as close to all their customers as they are in cities. Rural people know and understand this. No less than those in towns, however, they are entitled to reasonable provision and to high quality services provided efficiently. The Citizen's Charter programme aims to improve standards of public service. The publication of national charters such as the Parents' and Patients' Charters is already transforming the way in which service providers approach their task. We now propose to promote a Rural Charter Checklist with the aim of ensuring that the needs of the people of rural Scotland are fully taken into account in the delivery of public services. We are also keen to promote improved information in rural areas about the range of financial and other assistance available in rural Scotland. The Rural Focus Group has overseen a project which aims to produce an information booklet, similar to that produced by Tayside Regional Council, for other parts of rural Scotland. Rural Forum was commissioned to prepare a national template for this initiative and is working with local authorities with a view to the preparation of local editions for publication when the new councils take control in April 1996. If the new councils proceed with publication it is hope that the booklets would be available during 1996. There has been growing recognition in the public sector of the potential of information highways to increase business competitiveness. The term "information highways" is usually taken to mean the transfer of large amounts of information, including video, still images, audio and text, at high speed between users. The impact of this technology in rural areas could be dramatic, overcoming geographical remoteness from business markets and, through teleworking, enabling people to work while remaining in their home communities. The significance of information highways to the Scottish economy has been seized by Scottish Enterprise which, in collaboration with local enterprise companies and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, has set up the SPAN (Smart Partnerships Across Networks) initiative to foster business applications of the technology. We recognise the need to provide for the cohesive force which is fundamental to successful rural initiatives. As a small contribution to this and to assist rural communities to take advantage of the potential of the superhighway, this document is being published simultaneously in The Scottish Office pages of the World Wide Web. Many of the other documents referred to here in the Rural Framework series will be made available there. We shall be supporting communications within the Scottish Rural Partnership through the Internet and a contact address is given at the end of this document. We expect that bulletin boards and many other useful data will be made available to rural communities in this way. Scottish Rural Partnership on the Internet
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