Rural Pathfinders – The Needs of

Rural West Midlands Businesses

March 2006

Introduction – Government's Intentions

The Government announced the establishment of the concept of Pathfinders in its' Rural Strategy in 2004.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, Margaret Beckett MP, declared:

"Local authorities have a vital role as community leaders in joining up and delivering quality services. I therefore intend to look at innovative mechanisms for devolving delivery even closer to rural communities.

Over the course of this year we will set up a pathfinder in each region to explore more joined up and flexible approaches at local level in rural areas, including to join up services and funding at the point of delivery".

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has described Pathfinders in the following way:

"They will investigate how to improve co-ordination of rural delivery at local level, how to get more value out of the wide range of funding streams available and how to bring strong local leadership to bear in tackling rural disadvantage".

As a result, eight pathfinder schemes have been established which are as follows:

-          Dorset

-          Hampshire

-          The Fens

-          Peak District

-          The Humber

-          West Durham

-          Lancashire

-          Shropshire

For the West Midlands region, it is the Peak District and Shropshire Pathfinders that are most relevant here.

West Midlands Regional Pathfinders – Plans and Objectives

In March 2005, each Pathfinder produced a business plan.

The Peak District Pathfinder which is mainly based in the East Midlands region but also covers parts of Staffordshire Moorlands and East Staffordshire in the West Midlands region, stated that their action plan was as follows:

March 2005               Agree Governance Structures

April 2005                  Appoint staff

May-June 2005         Mapping current services and develop public relations strategy

July-August 2005      Workshops with various sectors – including "businesses" – and agree funding streams

September 2005       Agree short and medium term objectives

October – March       ImpleIInplementation of Actions

In terms of their overall objectives, the Peak District Pathfinder programme describe their aims as follows:

"We must strive to make support services much more accessible, streamlined and efficient. The Peak District Rural Action Zone Pathfinder will create an opportunity to demonstrate practical ways of combining our services and orientating them more towards the needs of those entrepreneurs in communities and business who will make sustainable regeneration happen".

The Shropshire Pathfinder has not produced as detailed a plan of action as the Peak District and some other Pathfinders.

However, the Business Plan does give its overall objectives as follows:

"

-          Access any service they need on their doorstep;

-          Travel easily and cheaply around Shropshire using public, community or voluntary transport;

-          Find the training they need to develop a well rewarded career in their local community;

-          Receive the support, if they need it, to turn a great business idea into reality;

-          Continue to live in a beautiful environment that at the same time can be used to benefit the local community".

The regional rural business community endorses the Pathfinders work.

Simplifying the service provision available to businesses and ensuring that business can play its' full role in the community is fundamental.

Businesses in rural communities are not just the wealth creators for local prosperity and local jobs – fundamental though that is. It is the rural business community that provides the social glue that tie disparate rural communities.

Therefore any consideration of the work of Pathfinders must have the role of the rural business community at the forefront of it's consideration.

The Business Voice WM would therefore propose the following issues that should be at the forefront of actions to be implemented by the Peak District and Shropshire Pathfinders:

-          Public Procurement Opportunities

-          Skills

-          One Stop Shop for Services

The remainder of this paper looks at each one of these issues in detail.

Public Procurement

Rural businesses are often the best source for fulfilling local public procurement contracts. The businesses are ideally suited to meet orders in areas which – for larger urban based businesses – may be considered as hard to reach areas. The knowledge of the local area means that value added services and products are provided to the public sector. Finally, the business produced by sourcing public procurement contracts locally can help produce local prosperity and jobs in rural communities.

Pathfinders are ideal vehicles to ensure that public procurement opportunities are available for rural businesses. With the intention to provide a one stop shop for services, the Pathfinders could provide an easy to use access point to gain knowledge of available public procurement contracts.

The complexity surrounding such contracts has largely been removed thanks to innovative practices having been developed in the West Midlands region.

HM Treasury piloted a public procurement portal in the region and this portal still continues – thanks to Advantage West Midlands funding and the management of the Birmingham Chamber. The pilot championed a pre qualification questionnaire – which reduces the paperwork that businesses had to fill in – in the recent past – to gain public procurement contracts.

Pathfinders could use the expertise and services of the West Midlands Regional Procurement Portal – as managed by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry – to ensure that local rural communities have the opportunity to prosper.

Skills

Poor skills levels are holding back the rural economy – whether in land management, agri-business, tourism or a range of other business sectors.

Recent research undertaken by Harper Adams University College for the Business Voice WM also reveals that this skills gap is been accentuated by demographic changes in rural areas with a proportional increase in the number of older people in rural areas.

The Business Voice WM has already stated its' belief that actions need to be adopted by the public sector and business to utilise the experience and skills base of older workers.

Pathfinders are an ideal vehicle for the Learning and Skills Councils and training providers – including from business representative organisations and higher and further education institutions - to come together to offer an easy to use access point for accessing skills training provision.

Such a one stop shop service will also enable Pathfinder programmes, working with the West Midlands Regional Skills Partnership – which meets under the auspices of Advantage West Midlands – to develop skills programmes that meets the needs of the demand side in the regional rural economy.

Such an approach would enable skills training opportunities to be advertised to young people – informing them of the potential high value jobs in the rural economy.

Therefore such a one stop shop can ensure that there is direct link for training providers – from the higher and further education sector and training provision from business representative organisations.

With the continuing trend for young people to leave rural areas, such a one stop shop can also advertise the training courses that would lead to high value jobs in the rural economy.

One Stop Shop for Services

The essence and purpose of Pathfinders providing a one stop shop for services – as explained by the Government – is fully backed by the Business Voice WM.

The business community would, however, call for business support services to be an integral part of this service.

There is also a concern about the lack of publicity of these one stop shop services. Marketing is critical to ensure the success of the Pathfinders and business representative organisations could be an ideal and cost effective vehicle to publicise this service to the rural business community.

West Midlands Business Council

T: 0121 245 0140

F: 0121 245 0141

info@businessvoicewm.org.uk

www.wmbusinesscouncil.org.uk