Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in England. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for co-operation between it and the Scottish Executive[1] and the Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales,[2] which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective countries.
It was formed in June 2001, 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 8000 core personnel, as of January 2004. The department's main building is Nobel House in Smith Square, SW1. Another significant Defra building is located in Whitehall Place and is unique because it is the only building designed by a government architect, Clifford Edmund Mee OBE ARIBA, of the then Ministry of Works in the whole Whitehall area.
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[edit] Ministers
After the 2005 General Election, the Ministry was restructured, with one fewer Ministers of State and one further Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State; but this change reverted after the May 2006 reshuffle. The current make-up of the department's ministers is:
- Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs — The Rt Hon. David Miliband MP
- Minister of State for Climate Change and the Enviroment — Ian Pearson MP
- Minister of State for Sustainable Farming and Food — Lord Rooker
- Minister of State for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare- Ben Bradshaw MP
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity — Barry Gardiner MP
[edit] Permanent Secretary
Helen Ghosh is the current Permanent Secretary.
[edit] Departmental agencies and sponsored bodies
- Central Science Laboratory headed by the Parliamentary Secretary (Farming, Food and Sustainable Energy)
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science — headed by the Parliamentary Secretary (Nature Conservation and Fisheries)
- Countryside Agency (England) has been subsumed into Natural England and the Commission for Rural Communities
- Drinking Water Inspectorate
- English Nature has been subsumed into Natural England
- Environmental Stewardship
- Forest Enterprise (England) headed by the Parliamentary Secretary (Nature Conservation and Fisheries)
- Forest Enterprise (Scotland) headed by the Parliamentary Secretary (Nature Conservation and Fisheries)
- Forest Enterprise (Wales) headed by the Parliamentary Secretary (Nature Conservation and Fisheries)
- Forestry Research headed by the Parliamentary Secretary (Nature Conservation and Fisheries)
- Joint Nature Conservation Committee JNCC
- Pesticides Safety Directorate headed by the Minister of State (Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality)
- State Veterinary Service
- Rural Development Service has been subsumed into Natural England
- Rural Payments Agency headed by the Minister of State (Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality)
- Veterinary Laboratories Agency headed by the Parliamentary Secretary (Nature Conservation and Fisheries)
- Veterinary Medicines Directorate headed by the Parliamentary Secretary (Nature Conservation and Fisheries)
[edit] Defra regions
Defra has eight regional departments:
- East of England (based in Cambridge)
- East Midlands (based in Nottingham)
- North East (based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne)
- North West (based in Crewe)
- South East (based in Reading)
- South West (based in Bristol)
- West Midlands (based in Worcester)
- Yorkshire and Humberside (based in Leeds)
[edit] Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) program
Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 and Part III of the Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002 placed a statutory duty on all local authorities throughout the UK to periodically review and assess air quality within their area. This includes consideration of current and likely future air quality against air quality objectives, established for the protection of human health, set out in the Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (AQS). Atmospheric dispersion modelling plays a key role in the review and assessment process.
Local authorities work towards achieving the AQS objectives that have been prescribed in regulation through the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) program. The LAQM program is under the aegis of DEFRA. To assist and support the local authorities in their review and assessment work, DEFRA issued an LAQM Technical Guidance document in February 2003.[3]
DEFRA also retained the services of the Casella Stanger consultancy company (now a part of the Bureau Veritas Group) to establish and manage a Dispersion Modelling Helpdesk[4] to further support the local authorities in their work.
[edit] See also
- Compilation of atmospheric dispersion models
- Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Northern Ireland)
- Energy policy in the United Kingdom
- Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
- Environmental contract
- UK Dispersion Modelling Bureau
- UK topics
- Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department
- Waste Implementation Programme
[edit] External links
- Defra's official website
- English Nature's website
- JNCC's website
- Defra's wiki for formulating an environmental contract
