Rural Economy

No, my Lords, I am not. I have eight more minutes in which to speak. I am very happy to debate this with the noble Earl on another occasion. Looking beyond farming, our strategy is to minimise regulatory burdens and at the same time provide support to help enterprise flourish. We are working with England’s regional development agencies to increase their activity in support of the economy in rural areas. This ensures a strategic economic development within each region, considering the needs of both rural and urban businesses, which are surprisingly often similar. We are ensuring that money is directed to areas which need it most. This year the regional development agencies have received £72 million from Defra. They will receive a similar amount in each of the next two years. We have successfully engaged them as key strategic partners in the delivery of our aims for rural areas. As I noted earlier, in rural areas unemployment tends to be low. However, many jobs are low skill and low paid or seasonal. Jobs in the food industry and tourism are important examples. Such sectors are important in rural areas. With RDAs and sector skills councils, we are doing our best to address low skill level jobs, and we are working with a range of partners to develop a framework which will provide a greater career structure—which is one of the problems—to jobs in the land-based sector. We are also working to ensure that the potential of the tourism industry is more fully exploited. When I talk about work in the country, I have to address the comments that my noble friend Lady Prosser made in relation to the gangmaster scandal, which was shown most blatantly in the tragedy which occurred. She acknowledged that the Government had acted quickly and firmly to put an Act on the statute book, with the help of other political parties. We have some issues within government about who should be included and who should not. I refer in particular to the field of processing. We are determined to tackle gangmasters who act illegally and exploit their workers. We are currently considering the outcome of two consultations on the draft exclusion regulations. The main agricultural exclusions proposed in the first consultation are largely acceptable, subject to some redrafting. The Government hope to be in a position to announce the outcome of both consultations by the middle of this month. I confirm that the GLA is on track to commence licensing from April 2006. I am very grateful for what my noble friend had to say on that very important issue. I have mentioned broadband. Commuting can also be reduced by ensuring that a range of housing is available in rural areas. The availability of affordable housing for both rent and purchase—mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, and many other speakers today—is vital to a prosperous and vivacious countryside, helping to support diverse communities which are socially and economically vibrant and inclusive. That is why in July this year—as we promised in our manifesto—the Affordable Rural Housing Commission was launched to identify ways of improving access to affordable housing for people in rural areas. Our work on affordable housing will contribute to ensuring that housing is available at all levels of the market and provide a full range of local labour supply, allowing businesses of all sizes to change and develop. The commission will consider the evidence and reach a consensus on the relevant issues with regard to affordable housing needs in rural areas. This is real progress, but noble Lords will quite rightly want to wait and see what the results are. Assistance to the rural economy is provided by Defra through funding support under the England Rural Development Programme, which is the, by now famous, Pillar 2 of the CAP. This programme directly contributes to all three strands of sustainability. The current programme has provided £1 billion to farmers for more effective environmental management of their land through the agri-environment schemes. The new environmental stewardship scheme, launched in March last year, builds on the success of the environmental sensitive area scheme and other schemes. More than 65,000 applications packs have been issued, and it currently has more than 12,000 live arrangements in place, covering nearly 1.4 million hectares under agreement. In addition, assistance of more than £200 million will have been provided to the rural economy through the programme’s project-based schemes: the rural enterprise scheme, the vocational training scheme and the processing and marketing grants. While much of this funding is directed towards agriculture, a proportion is set aside for wider village and community activities to deliver sustainable local enterprises, including social enterprises that we have heard about today at first hand, such as community shops and post offices. The rural enterprise scheme is the main route through which Defra channels assistance to farmers to diversify their agricultural business. Nearly £46 million has been committed from the scheme to help farmers diversify. While these grants provide support for individual farm businesses, there are also gains for the wider rural economy. By way of example, a farm shop and café funded through the scheme has been so popular that it has expanded, creating more local jobs, providing outlets for other local food producers and is now a venue where local people meet. The new EU rural development regulation agreed last September provides the basis for funding the successor programme. I have not got time to go into the details of where we are in terms of that funding. Those who were present last night will know that we discussed this issue during the debate on Amendment No. 203 to the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill. Noble Lords can see in Hansard what I said about the state of play as it is now. The House will want to know more and there is an Oral Question on this on Tuesday. I will also write to the noble Baroness who raised this with the state of play as it is now. I have to finish in the course of the next minute or two. At a more local level, we want to continue to provide support for local village shops. The Government have assisted local services by extending mandatory rate relief at 50 per cent to include sole-village public houses, petrol stations and village food shops under the village shops scheme. We have issued planning guidance advising local authorities to adopt a positive approach to planning proposals designed to improve the viability, accessibility or community value of existing services and facilities. Taken together, the action I have outlined demonstrates this Government’s strong and continuing commitment to a vibrant and diverse rural economy in England. We have to build on the success and prosperity that is enjoyed by many rural communities, but we must not be complacent about the significant challenges that face farming and other rural businesses and the communities they serve. That is why we will continue to make supporting successful rural enterprise a high priority and why we will continue to invest public resources to reflect this commitment. I thank the noble Baroness again for initiating this debate.