Rural Delivery Plan
In 2023, the previous First Minster’s Policy Prospectus committed to a Rural Delivery Plan (RDP), setting out how all parts of the Scottish Government are delivering for rural areas.
The purpose of the RDP was to communicate the positive action taking place in Scotland’s rural communities, to harness opportunities and address some of the persistent, complex challenges requiring cross-government responses.
However, given the breadth and progress of policy work now underway since we committed to produce a Rural Delivery Plan, our First Minister has been very clear; the priority is action, not more plans. This means our Ministers are resolutely focused on delivering real, tangible outcomes for rural Scotland.
For that reason, rather than progress with publication of the Rural Delivery Plan, they are leveraging our strong understanding of trends, challenges and opportunities for Scotland’s rural communities, and the innovative Rural Assessment Toolkit which supports ‘rural proofing’, and taking the pragmatic decision to focus on embedding and strengthening rural proofing of policy across Scottish Government, which will result in the best outcomes for communities.
Although the draft Rural Delivery Plan will not be published, the effort invested in it is being put to good use. Many of the products and outcomes we already have from this work – an understanding of the data-based trends, challenges and opportunities in Scotland’s rural communities, an updated, interactive Rural Scotland Data Dashboard, the Rural Assessment Toolkit, and clarity on high priority/impact areas of focus – will support our rural proofing work across the Scottish Government going forwards.
Looking ahead, a key outcome of this work is our ability to strengthen rural proofing across the Scottish Government—ensuring that all policies, not just those specifically aimed at rural communities, fully consider rural needs throughout the entire policy development process.
Dashboards – Useful links
- Rural Scotland Data Dashboard
- Rural Scotland Data Dashboard: Overview and link to supporting documents
- Scottish Islands Data Dashboard
The Rural Delivery Plan – Information resources
- Rural Delivery Plan: Ministerial Working Group
- Rural Delivery Plan: vision, strategic objectives and key performance indicators – Scottish Government consultations – Citizen Space
