Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the entire United Kingdom. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for cooperation, between it and the Scottish Government,[1] Welsh Government[2] and Northern Ireland Executive,[3] which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations.

Defra also leads for the United Kingdom on agricultural, fisheries and environmental matters in 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; later transferred to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy following Theresa May's appointment as Prime Minister in July 2016.

Creation

The department 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.

It 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, Template:As of.[4]

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.[5]

Ministers

Defra ministers are as follows, with cabinet members in bold:[6]

On 8 and 9 July 2024, the appointments of Daniel Zeichner as Minister of State[7] and Emma Hardy MP and [8] and Baroness Hayman of Ullock[9] as Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State was announced, but initially without details of specific portfolios within Defra.

Minister Portrait Office Portfolio
Steve Reed MPScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". File:Steve Reed Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (crop 3).jpg Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Strategy and overall responsibility for departmental policy; water quality and security; food production and security; economic growth; international relations; senior appointments.
Daniel Zeichner MPScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". File:Official portrait of Daniel Zeichner crop 2.jpg Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs Farming (including Environmental Land Management (ELMS)); food security; science and innovation (including agri-science); rural; fisheries; farmed animal welfare including bovine TB; trade; budget (deputy to Secretary of State); lead for Rural Payments Agency, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, Marine Management Organisation, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and Sea Fish Industry Authority
Mary Creagh MPScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". File:Official portrait of Mary Creagh crop 2.jpg Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nature Circular economy; planning and land use framework; domestic biodiversity; tree planting and forestry; international nature and wildlife; environmental targets and EIP; Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme; green finance; Protected Landscapes (National Landscapes and National Parks); lead for Office for Environmental Protection, Natural England, Forestry Commission, Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Kew Gardens
Emma Hardy MPScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". File:Official portrait of Emma Hardy MP crop 2.jpg Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water and Flooding Floods and emergencies; water; clean air and noise; environmental regulation (including chemicals, contaminated land and Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH)); pesticides; Net Zero, climate change and adaptation; domestic and international marine; lead for Environment Agency and Consumer Council for Water
Baroness Hayman File:Sue Hayman MP - official portrait 2017 (3-to-4 crop).jpg Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lords Minister) Biosecurity and plant health; borders; Northern Ireland – Windsor Framework; animal welfare; One Health; access (including rights of way and coastal paths); lead for Veterinary Medicines Directorate and Animal and Plant Health Agency

The interim Permanent Secretary is David Hill, who replaced Tamara Finkelstein in 2025.[10]

Responsibilities

Defra is responsible for British Government policy in the following areas:[11] Template:Div col

Template:Div col end Some policies apply to England alone due to devolution, while others are not devolved and therefore apply to the United Kingdom as a whole.

Executive agencies

The department's executive agencies are:[12]

Key delivery partners

The department's key delivery partners are:[15]

A full list of departmental delivery and public bodies may be found on the Defra website.[18]

Defra in England

File:Countryside Stewardship Scheme sign - geograph.org.uk - 726323.jpg
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:

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".[19]

Under this overarching aim, Defra has five strategic priorities:[20]

Defra aims to procure a significant proportion of the goods and services it requires from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in line with government policy on the SME agenda, and has also encouraged its major contractors to engage with SMEs.[21]

Defra's headquarters are at 2, Marsham Street, London.[22] It is also located at Nobel House, 17, Smith Square, London.[23]

See also

References

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External links


Template:Defra (United Kingdom) Template:Departments of the United Kingdom Government Template:Agriculture in the United Kingdom Template:Energy in the United Kingdom Template:Authority control

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  6. ↑ Template:OGL-attribution
  7. ↑ Daniel Zeichner MP
  8. ↑ Emma Hardy MP
  9. ↑ Baroness Hayman of Ullock
  10. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/david-hill-appointed-as-interim-defra-permanent-secretary
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  13. ↑ "DEFRA Agencies shake-up", news release by Defra, 29 June 2010 (from the Defra website)
  14. ↑ "Launch of Animal Health" Template:Webarchive, news release by Animal Health, 2 April 2007 (from the Defra website)
  15. ↑ "Working with others: Defra's delivery partners" Template:Webarchive, Chapter 6, Departmental Report 2006 (from the Defra website)
  16. ↑ "Marine Management Organisation established" Template:Webarchive, press release by Defra, 1 April 2010 (from the Defra website.
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  21. ↑ Template:OGL-attribution
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