Setting a new standard in rural services for the 21st century?

The fifth annual monitoring report on the national Rural Services Standard, published by the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) today, calls for local standards of service and for these to cover the quality of services as well as access for rural people. The Rural Service Standard contains eleven commitments about the delivery of services in rural areas, including schools, bus services, broadband/Internet access, health services, care of the elderly, emergency response times and postal services. The report shows that standards concerning the presumption against the closure of rural schools and post offices have been effective in minimising, although not eliminating, the loss of these important community assets. The latter is likely to form part of the Government's consultation on the future of the rural post office network, which is due shortly. But there are still areas where improvement and close monitoring are needed. The development of extended schools in rural areas, providing access to the full range of extended services and activities, is lagging behind that of urban areas. Just over 3,500 schools in England currently provide this service and, of these, only 14% are rural, although 28% of all primary and secondary schools are located in rural areas. Programmes, such as the development of Children's Centres, need to include positive steps to ensure that rural circumstances and needs are taken into account, rather than simply relying on methods that work in urban areas. Crispin Moor, Director of Rural Expertise at the CRC, said, "A national Rural Services Standard is useful, but it now needs to be translated to delivery at regional and local level. We need to consider whether a national Rural Service Standard alone is meaningful to people living in rural communities. For example, fair access to services at a local level might be better achieved by setting targets through Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Area Agreements." The report will form the basis of the CRC's continuing work on the Rural Services Standard in the coming year, which will include identifying and promoting good practice, where work on fair access to services has been carried out at regional and local level.