1. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas Scottish Borders LEADER Programme Project Appraisal Process Maria Mackenzie

2. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas Contents 1.Application Deadline - Technical Assessment and eligibility checklist 2.Score guidance + score sheet 3.Approve, Reject, Discuss 4.Scores Summary 5.Final Decision 6.Minute 7.FOI and Data Protection Act

3. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas A bit of background Scottish Borders LEADER Programme works to two key dates on a quarterly rolling programme. Application deadline: 6 May Decision Making Group meeting: 28 June Next deadline is 5 Aug, with meeting on the 22 Sept…

4. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas 1.Application deadline Upon receipt Coordinator completes Technical Assessment and eligibility checklist Support Officer checks financial information / spend eligibility Any questions or missing information requested from the applicant… 1 – 2 weeks after the application deadline Once happy that the information is all present and clearly presented the applications are sent/emailed to the Decision Making Group along with Score Guidance and Score Sheet

5. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas 2. Score Guidance The Decision Making Group members score each application for: 1.Community involvement 2.Evidence of demand 3.Linkages with other local strategies 4.Priority Target Groups 5.Economic Impact 6.Project management 7.Additionality and leverage 8.Innovation 9.Sustainable Development 10.Value for Money 11.Transferability

6. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas Score Sheet Emailed to DMG members and returned electronically or in hard copy to us

7. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas 3. Approve, Reject or Discuss? The DMG member decides to either (a)approve the application (b)discuss at the Decision Making Group (and go with the consensus) or (c)reject the application Concerns, observations and questions are written onto the score sheet, for me to work through with the applicant. I also look through the scores to address any weaknesses. If more information is needed before a score and decision can be submitted, I will work with the applicant to provide this for the meeting so that a decision can be reached. If the DMG member is unable to attend the meeting, the score sheet represents their decision.

8. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas 4. Score Summary

9. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas 5. Final Decision This score summary is presented at the Decision Making Group meeting along with any additional information gathered during the scoring process. This informs the discussion. The Group uses the scores, any new information and the discussion itself to agree a decision for all project applications as follows: Approve Approve with recommendations or subject to conditions Deferred subject to receipt of further information Reject based on serious project weaknesses Minutes record the details of the decisions

10. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas 6. Minute extract

11. LEADER Coordinator, c/o Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA. Tel: (01835) 826661, mmackenzie@scotborders.gov.uk, www.scottishbordersleader.co.uk Scottish Borders LEADER Encouraging innovation in rural areas 7. FOI and Data Protection around scoring and decision making All the information around the decision making process - except for individual scores from Decision Making Group members - is made available. The Data Protection Act covers the application itself and the views, questions and scores provided by individual Decision Making Group members. This information can be deemed personal third party data (i.e. data which relates to a living individual who can be identified from those data).’ Therefore anyone (under FOI) would have access to the minutes and scores summary to show the process behind the decision making.