Rural Social and Community Programme (RSCP)
The Rural Social and community Programme will close as planned on the 31st of march 2008. The closure of the Programme is not a reflection of its value or achievements. At the time of its introduction, the Programme was billed as a two-year investment to develop the capacity of the rural voluntary and community and parish council sectors, to address important social issues and tackle the causes of rural social exclusion, so that those communities could, thereafter, work together to shape their own future. It followed on from Defra's previous ‘Infrastructure Investment Programme’, which also provided funding for capacity-building activities.
Our expectation was - and still is - that those investments in capacity will have lasting value and the benefits would be protected by the continuity arrangements that we asked lead accountable bodies to build into the business plans for the Programme. With that in mind, we actively encouraged all lead accountable bodies to review their original business plans and the continuity arrangements that we asked to be built in from the outset.
There are strands of work supported under the RSCP that we will develop beyond March 2008. We now have the report of an independent study commissioned earlier this year to consider the case for, and possible means of, providing further support to Rural Community Councils (RCCs). On the basis of that report, Ministers have agreed to provide a further three years of funding for Rural Community Councils to commence on 1 April.
Page last modified:
7 March, 2008
Page published: 21 July, 2005