Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: stage 2 - England case study

8. Future Evolution

The UK Government has committed to be ‘mission-led’, with five national missions: economic growth, clean energy, health, reducing crime, and increasing opportunity. A “Taskforce on Delivery of Government Missions in Rural Areas” was recently established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Ministers, bringing together “a dozen organisations representing rural business interests, communities, public services and academia” (Hammond 2025). Its report will inform a “Rural Mission Delivery Plan developed across government departments in the autumn” (ibid). One possibility is that this may involve a Rural Mission Delivery Board, perhaps chaired jointly by the Cabinet Office and Defra, overseeing the deployment of an outcome-based ‘whole-of-government’ approach.