In the context of the foot and mouth disease outbreak, the Prime Minister has asked the Commission for Rural Communities to report on ways in which the rural economy can be further strengthened.
We know that the rural economy has some inherent strengths but there are also areas where it can be further improved. With over a million businesses and 4.5 million people working in firms as diverse as high tech engineering to care of the elderly, substantial parts of England's rural economies continue to trade unaffected by this outbreak. However, it is vital to rural communities that the public continue to visit the countryside and that businesses continue to trade with rural areas and they are not affected by the mistaken belief that isolated incidents of foot and mouth disease necessitates the closure of rural England.
Indeed by continuing to support rural economies, consumers will help to safeguard the future livelihoods of rural communities. We will look to have our report ready for the return of Parliament in the autumn and build on our submission to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and the reporting of the health of these economies in our State of the Countryside 2007 report.
