A mixed picture of access to public services available to people who live in rural areas is reported today (14 July) in the Countryside Agency’s second annual report on progress with the Rural Services Standard*.    Set out in the 2000 Rural White P...
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Rural Services Standard progresses: second progress report 2002/03 - 14 July 2003

A mixed picture of access to public services available to people who live in rural areas is reported today (14 July) in the Countryside Agency’s second annual report on progress with the Rural Services Standard*. Set out in the 2000 Rural White Paper, Our Countryside, The Future, it aims to give people who live in the countryside more choice about how they can access the services they need and a better understanding of the service levels they can expect.

Where standards were measurable, the Countryside Agency’s second progress report shows that Fire Brigade response times have been surpassed and the target number of UK Online centres has been reached.   Fewer rural post offices have closed but in other services, such as ambulance response times, targets have not been achieved, although progress is being made.

Countryside Agency chairman Sir Ewen Cameron said:   “Although the situation has improved since our first progress report last year, we remain concerned that some of the standards cannot be monitored properly because rural data is not collected by departments and some of the standards are national rather than rural-specific.    I welcome Defra’s plans to work with us on a fundamental review of the Rural Services Standard to bring about improvements which are of real benefit to rural people.   We will also carry out pilots in the North East and East of England this year, working with sub groups of the Regional Rural Affairs Fora, to monitor the application of the services standard at regional level.              

“Improving service delivery to rural communities requires providers to think carefully about how they deliver those services.    Joint working, sharing service outlets, using outreach or mobile services and ICT all have their part to play,” said Sir Ewen.

Rural Services Standard:   Second progress report 2002/03  can be downloaded from our web site on www.countryside.gov.uk/publications or obtained free (Ref CA147) from Countryside Agency Publications, PO Box 125, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7EP, Tel 0870 120 6466.                                                                                                                                        mf        

Rural Services Standard progresses/2…

The Rural Services Standard 2003, which sets out the standards for the coming year that the Countryside Agency will report on, is also published by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs today at the Rural Affairs Forum for England.    Defra has added three new standards - all rural education authorities to have at least one full extended school service by 2006;   50% discounts on local bus fares for over 60s; and a free piece of fruit every school day for every 4-6 year old.    These standards are available at http://www.defra.gov.uk/

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Notes to editors

Further information from Countryside Agency press office on 0207 340 2906/2909

*The Rural Services Standard  provides details on the types of public services in rural areas and how to access them, in person, by phone or through the internet, such as:

·        Presumption against closures (e.g. rural post offices)

·        Indicators of access levels (e.g. population coverage by community legal services partnership)

·        Geographic access to services (e.g. the maximum distance or time people should be expected to travel to reach a services outlet)

·        Response time targets for services such as ambulances, police and fire bridges

·        Telephone services such as Jobseeker Direct

·        Online access to key services

·        Help with fares (e.g. financial help to meet public transport costs of travelling to interview)

The Countryside Agency is the statutory body working to make the quality of life better in the countryside and the quality of the countryside better for everyone.