Agriculture - national test programme: equality impact assessment

The scope of the EQIA

During the development of the National Test Programme, early consideration was given to its potential impact on people and equalities.

The support under Track One is being aimed at every farmer, crofter and land manager in Scotland that is currently eligible to receive support under the domestic extension of the EU CAP. The entry requirements are being set at a deliberately low level to try to minimise barriers to entry and encourage as many businesses as possible to participate. In addition, the support for soil analysis is being structured in such a way as to provide enough flexibility to meet the wide range in both size and type of farming systems across Scotland.

For Track Two, the number of participants will be limited in order to explore issues in more detail in a manageable fashion. Work is underway to establish a methodology for this, with statisticians from the Scottish Government Agricultural Analysis Unit designing a representative sample across all types of agriculture in Scotland. The sample will include a broad range of businesses, from those early adopters, likely to be ahead on the issues we wish to test, to those harder to reach businesses who may perceive greater barriers and are likely to need more support. Participation will still be voluntary, however.

The Programme is not intended to bring about a change in what the participating businesses produce (and so what end product might be available to consumers), but rather to encourage those businesses to be aware of the environmental actions and metrics associated with their activities, in preparation for this becoming mandatory in the future as part of the shift towards a long term future rural policy framework.

Given the focussed nature of the Programme, and the fact that it is voluntary, short-term and transitionary, it was determined that the Programme was unlikely to have a significant impact on the protected characteristics. As a result, it was considered that only a minimal EQIA process was relevant at this stage, and it will be more appropriate to focus the equalities analysis on the changes that will be made during the development of the longer term future rural policy framework (with further consultation and EQIAs as needed).