In England, the government will invest £100m from the RDPE to help small businesses improve theirskills, facilities and competitiveness. For rural tourism – the government will commit £25m to promote rural tourism, including a new £10m fund within the RDPE to develop rural tourism destinations. Hey, now is that an idea we could nick or adapt?!!

For Food and Drink – perhaps this includes Scotland too, it's not clear  - the government will launch a food and drink export action plan in January 2012, including

• development of a cross-Government strategy on removing animal health trade barriers in key markets such as China and Russia;
• regional road-shows for prospective exporters;
• a food and drink business ambassador; and steps to reduce blockages to UK food exports.
• in addition a summit will be held in March 2012 to boost innovation in small agri-food businesses.

Rural Community Renewable Energy Fund,
The government will launch a £15m Rural Community Renewable Energy Fund to help communities meet the upfront cost of developing renewable projects.

Rural employment – The Forestry Commission England, working with private companies, will offer 45 training opportunities for new forestry apprentices.

Interesting stuff.