Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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Formed
  
2001

Jurisdiction
  
United Kingdom

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Preceding agencies
  
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Headquarters
  
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London

Annual budget
  
£2.2 billion (current) & £400 million (capital) for 2011-12

Minister responsible
  
Andrea Leadsom, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for co-operation between it and the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations. Defra also leads for Britain at the EU on agricultural, fisheries and environment matters and in other international negotiations on sustainable development and climate change, although a new Department of Energy and Climate Change was created on 3 October 2008 to take over the last responsibility.

Contents

Creation

It was formed in June 2001 under the leadership of Margaret Beckett, when the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was merged with part of the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and with a small part of the Home Office. The department was created after the perceived failure of MAFF to deal adequately with an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. The Department had about 9,000 core personnel, as of January 2008. The Department's main building is Nobel House on Smith Square, SW1.

In October 2008, the climate team at Defra was merged with the energy team from the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) to create the Department of Energy and Climate Change, then headed by Ed Miliband.

Ministers

The Defra Ministers are as follows:

The Permanent Secretary is Clare Moriarty.

Responsibilities

Defra is responsible for British Government policy in the following areas

  • Adaptation to global warming
  • Agriculture
  • Air quality
  • Animal health and animal welfare
  • Biodiversity
  • Conservation
  • Chemical substances and pesticides
  • Fisheries
  • Flooding
  • Food
  • Forestry
  • Hunting
  • Inland waterways
  • Land management
  • Marine policy
  • National parks
  • Noise
  • Plant health
  • Rural development
  • Sustainable development
  • Waste management
  • Water management

    • Some policies apply to England alone due to devolution, while others are not devolved and therefore apply Britain as a whole.

    Executive agencies

    The department's executive agencies are:

  • Animal and Plant Health Agency (formerly the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, formed by a merger of Animal Health and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, and later parts of the Food and Environment Research Agency. Animal Health had launched on 2 April 2007 and was formerly the State Veterinary Service)
  • Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
  • Rural Payments Agency
  • Veterinary Medicines Directorate

    • Key delivery partners

    The department's key delivery partners are:

  • Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board
  • Consumer Council for Water
  • Environment Agency
  • Fera Science (formerly the Food and Environment Research Agency, now a company in which DEFRA holds a 25% stake)
  • Forestry Commission (a non-ministerial government department including Forest Enterprise and Forest Research)
  • Joint Nature Conservation Committee
  • Marine Management Organisation (launched on 1 April 2010, incorporates the former Marine and Fisheries Agency)
  • National Forest Company
  • Natural England (launched on 11 October 2006, formerly English Nature and elements of the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service)
  • Ofwat (a non-ministerial government department formally known as the Water Services Regulation Authority)
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
  • Sea Fish Industry Authority

    • A full list of departmental delivery and public bodies may be found on the Defra website.

    Defra in the English regions

    Policies for environment, food and rural affairs are delivered in the regions by Defra's executive agencies and delivery bodies, in particular Natural England, the Rural Payments Agency, Animal Health and the Marine Management Organisation.

    Defra provides grant aid to the following flood and coastal erosion risk management operating authorities:

  • Environment Agency
  • Internal drainage boards
  • Local authorities

    • Aim and strategic priorities

    Defra's overarching aim is sustainable development, which is defined as "development which enables all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations." The Secretary of State wrote in a letter to the Prime Minister that he saw Defra’s mission as enabling a move toward what the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has called "one planet living".

    Under this overarching aim, Defra has five strategic priorities:

  • Climate change and energy.
  • Sustainable consumption and production, including responsibility for the National Waste Strategy.
  • Protecting the countryside and natural resource protection.
  • Sustainable rural communities.
  • A sustainable farming and food sector including animal health and welfare.

    • References

    Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA