Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department

Updated on Nov 05, 2023

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The Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) was a civil service department of the Scottish Executive. SEERAD was responsible for the following areas in Scotland: agriculture, rural development, food, the environment and fisheries. Following the change of administration in May 2007, a restructuring exercise led to most SEERAD functions being continued under the new Scottish Executive Environment Directorate.

SEERAD was directly responsible for various agencies of the Scottish Executive and other public bodies relating to these areas of responsibility. From early 2005 the Department was headed by Richard Wakeford. The Minister for Environment and Rural Development was Ross Finnie and he was assisted by the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Sarah Boyack.

A concordat set out agreed frameworks for co-operation between it and the United Kingdom government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Many of the functions of SEERAD were subsumed into the Environment Directorate in 2007.

Structure

The department had three executive agencies:

Scottish Agricultural Science Agency, which is responsible for scientific research into agriculture

Fisheries Research Services, which carries out scientific research into the fisheries and aquaculture areas

Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency, responsible for enforcing fisheries regulations in Scottish waters, and monitoring compliance

The department sponsored several non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) including:

Crofters Commission

Deer Commission for Scotland

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Scottish Natural Heritage

The Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority

The Macaulay Institute

The department also worked with Scottish Water.

References

Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department Wikipedia

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