Information AboutDefra |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS | |
| agriculture in england | |
| air dispersion modeling | |
| departments of the united kingdom government | |
| environment, food and rural affairs | |
| environment of england | |
| energy in the united kingdom | |
| uk waste legislation | |
| waste organisations | |
| fisheries ministries | |
| united kingdom | |
| agriculture ministries | |
| environment ministries | |
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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ('''Defra''') is the , Concordat between MAFF and the Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations. Defra also leads for the UK at the EU on agricultural, fisheries and environment matters and in other international negotiations on sustainable development and climate change. 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 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. 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 reverted after a reshuffle in May 2006. The current make-up of the department's ministers is[http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/ministers/index.htm Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Ministers]:
PERMANENT SECRETARY Helen Ghosh is the current Permanent Secretary . The Permanent Secretary is Head of the Department and also Principal Accounting Officer. She has personal responsibility for the overall organisation, management and staffing of the Department and for Department-wide procedures in financial and other matters. EXECUTIVE AGENCIES The Executive Agencies are: "Defra's Executive Agencies" , Chapter 5, Departmental Report 2006 (from the Defra website)
KEY DELIVERY PARTNERS The key delivery partners are: "Working with others: Defra's delivery partners" , Chapter 6, Departmental Report 2006 (from the Defra website)
A full list of departmental delivery and public bodies may be found on the Defra website. Delivery Landscape Map DEFRA IN THE REGIONS 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 , the Marine And Fisheries Agency and the Plant Health And Seeds Inspectorate . Increasingly, a range of policies are communicated locally by Government Offices for English Regions. Government Offices for the English Regions (from the Government Offices website) 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". "My priorities for Defra" , David Miliband's letter to the Prime Minister, 11 July 2006 Under this overarching aim, Defra has five strategic priorities: "Delivering the Essentials of Life: Defra’s Five Year Strategy" , Annex B
LOCAL AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT (LAQM) PROGRAMME 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. Technical Guidance, LAQM.TG (03) 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 Defra Dispersion Modelling Helpdesk to further support the local authorities in their work. SEE ALSO
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