Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs

Department overview
Formed	2001
Preceding agencies	Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Jurisdiction	United Kingdom
Headquarters	Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London
Annual budget	£2.2 billion (current) & £400 million (capital) for 2011-12
Minister responsible	Liz Truss, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department executive	Clare Moriarty, Permanent Secretary
Child agencies	Animal and Plant Health Agency Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Rural Payments Agency Veterinary Medicines Directorate
Website	www.gov.uk/defra

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.

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:

Minister	Rank	Portfolio
The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP	Secretary of State	Strategy and overall responsibility for departmental policy; Budget and finances; Legislative programme; Emergencies; EU and international relations; Environment Agency and Natural England
George Eustice MP	Minister of State for Farming, Food and the Marine Environment	Food and farming, animal health and welfare, marine and fisheries, science and innovation, better regulation, lead responsibility for the Rural Payments Agency, FERA, Cefas and the Animal and Plant Health Agency, deputy for the Secretary of State on Agriculture and Fisheries Council
Rory Stewart MP	Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs	Natural environment, floods and water, resource and environmental management, rural affairs, lead responsibility for the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Forestry Commission, deputy for the Secretary of State on Environment Council

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

A Countryside Stewardship Scheme sign near a new stile a Cratfield, Suffolk

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.

See also

• Badger culling in the United Kingdom
• Cattle Health Initiative
• Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Northern Ireland)
• Energy policy in the United Kingdom
• Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
• Environmental contract
• List of atmospheric dispersion models
• National Bee Unit
• National Collection of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria
• New Technologies Demonstrator Programme
• Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department
• UK Dispersion Modelling Bureau
• United Kingdom budget
• Waste Implementation Programme

External links

• Defra's official website
• Fera - Executive agency of DEFRA
• National Collection of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria - Fera
• English Nature's website
• JNCC's website
• Defra's wiki for formulating an environmental contract

Video clips

• DEFRA YouTube channel