Scottish Rural Development Programme 2014-2020: ex-post evaluation - main report

32. Balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities

This chapter answers CEQ29: To what extent has the RDP contributed to the CAP objective of achieving a balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities including the creation and maintenance of employment?

Response

The SRDP 2014-2020 contributed by design at the EU level and then again within the context of the national plans to the CAP objective of achieving a balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities including the creation and maintenance of employment.

However, the SRDP is unlikely to have made a substantial contribution due to the relatively small scale activities of the Programme when compared, for example, to the more substantial investments made under the other Structural Funds and other influences on economic activity and employment.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that the LFASS and CAGS focussed on areas where agriculture and the rural economy might be considered to be most vulnerable and in particular to be sensitive to the loss of employment opportunities in agriculture.

Further, LEADER can be expected, through its bottom-up approach facilitated through the 21 LAGs and delivery of 1,168 projects aligned to each area’s LDS, to be tackling a range of issues and challenges faced by rural communities. This was confirmed in various local LEADER evaluations. LEADER also reached beyond the agricultural sector to promote diversification at both the level of the individual business (which will expand or protect employment, and within the broader rural economy).

CEQ 22 dealt specifically with the creation and maintenance of employment and noted that while some SRDP-supported innovations and improvements in efficiency may have lowered employment in the primary sector, there were examples of (relatively small-scale) job creation under specific SRDP schemes. For example:

• a target indicator for LEADER shows that the scheme created 523 jobs.
• the Capital Grant Schemes Evaluation (2024) (which covered the NECGS, SFGS, and CAGS) estimated that an additional 75 FTEs were safeguarded/created by two years following post programme support across approximately 3,226 supported farms and crofts.

EKOS conclusion

The SRDP 2014-2020 has contributed to achieving a balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities including the creation and maintenance of employment, but only in a relatively minor way in line with the overall level of support available and its main focus specifically on the agricultural sector.