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 for the Environment
Jurisdiction	United Kingdom
Headquarters	Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London 51°29′44″N 0°07′34″W
Annual budget	£2.2 billion (current) & £400 million (capital) for 2011-12
Minister responsible	Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department executive	Bronwyn Hill, Permanent Secretary
Child agencies	Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency Food and Environment Research Agency Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Rural Payments Agency Veterinary Medicines Directorate
Website
www.defra.gov.uk

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. 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, headed by Ed Miliband.

Ministers

The Defra Ministers are as follows:

Minister		Rank	Portfolio
	The Rt Hon Owen Paterson 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
	David Heath CBE MP	Minister of State for Agriculture and Food	Farming and Food; Animal health; Forestry;
	Richard Benyon MP	Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Natural Environment, Water and Rural Affairs Minister for Flooding	Natural Environment; Water and Marine (inc Fisheries); Rural Affairs; Departmental administration
	Lord de Mauley	Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Resource Management, the Local Environment and Environmental Science	All departmental business in the House of Lords; Resource Management; Local Environment; Science and research

Key		Conservative
		Liberal Democrat

The Permanent Secretary is Bronwyn Hill.

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
• Chemicals 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 Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (formed on 1 April 2011 by a merger of Animal Health and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Animal Health had launched on 2 April 2007 and was formerly the State Veterinary Service)
• Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
• Food and Environment Research Agency (until April 2009 was called the Central Science Laboratory)
• Rural Payments Agency
• Veterinary Medicines Directorate

Key delivery partners

The department's key delivery partners are:

• Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board
• Commission for Rural Communities
• Consumer Council for Water
• Environment Agency
• Forestry Commission (a non-ministerial government department including Forest Enterprise and Forest Research)
• Gangmasters Licensing Authority
• 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

• 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