Defra Departmental Report 2009

Nobel House 17 Smith Square London SW1P 3JR www.defra.gov.uk Defra Departmental Report 2009 Departmental Report 2009 Published by TSO (The Stationery Office) and available from: Online www.tsoshop.co.uk Mail, Telephone Fax & E-Mail TSO PO Box 29, Norwich, NR3 1GN Telephone orders/General enquiries 0870 600 5522 Order through the Parliamentary Hotline Lo-Call 0845 7 023474 Fax orders: 0870 600 5533 To secure a healthy environment in which we and future generations can prosper E-mail: [email protected] Textphone: 0870 240 3701 www.defra.gov.uk The Parliamentary Bookshop 12 Bridge Street, Parliament Square, London SW1A 2JX Telephone orders/General enquiries 020 7219 3890 Fax orders: 020 7219 3866 Email: [email protected] ISBN 978-0-10-175992-2 Internet: http://www.bookshop.parliament.uk TSO@Blackwell and other Accredited Agents Customers can also order publications from TSO Ireland 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD 9 780101 759922 028 9023 8451 Fax 028 9023 5401 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Departmental Report 2009 Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by Command of Her Majesty June 2009 Cm 7599 £34.55 © Crown Copyright 2009 The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and other departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium providing it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document specified. Where we have identified any third party copyright material you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. For any other use of this material please write to Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU or e-mail: licensing@ opsi.gov.uk ISBN: 9786101759922 This is part of a series of departmental reports which, along with the Main Estimates 2009–10, the document Public Expenditure: Statistical Analyses 2009, and the Supply Estimates 2009–10: Supplementary Budgetary Information, present the Government’s outturn and planned expenditure for 2009–10 and 2010–11. Contents iii Foreword from the Secretary of State vii Executive Summary viii 1 Strategic Objectives and Departmental Structure 12 Who are we? 13 How we operate 20 The Defra Network 22 Accountability 23 Defra’s Ministers 24 Defra’s Management Board 25 2 Priorities and Objectives 26 What do we do? 27 Priority 1: Secure a healthy natural environment for us all and 28 deal with environmental risks Improving Biodiversity 30 Land and Soil Management 34 Water Availability and Quality 38 Marine 40 Air Quality 45 Local Environmental Quality 47 Emergency and Business Continuity Planning 48 Exotic Animal Disease 50 Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management 52 Priority 2: Promote a sustainable, low carbon and resource‑efficient 60 economy Sustainable Consumption and Production 62 Climate Change Mitigation 68 Socially and Economically Sustainable Rural Communities 72 Priority 3: Ensure a thriving farming sector and a sustainable, 76 healthy and secure food supply A Sustainable, Secure and Healthy Food Supply 78 Common Agricultural Policy Reform 80 Farming for the Future 83 Skills for Farming 84 Agriculture and Climate Change 85 Nutrient Management 87 Responsibility and Cost Sharing for Animal Health 87 Bovine Tuberculosis 89 Veterinary Science 91 Animal Welfare 94 Cross‑cutting objective 1: Sustainability 100 Cross‑cutting objective 2: Adaptation 108 Cross‑cutting objective 3: Rurality 116 iv Departmental Report 2009 3 Engaged and Effective Operations 122 How do we work? 123 Evidence 124 Departmental Research 128 Better Regulation 129 Knowledge Information, Information Systems and Information 132 Technology, and Service Transformation Value for Money (VfM) 135 Working Environment: Health and Safety 139 Working Environment: Recruitment Practice 140 PAC recommendations 141 Legal Group 142 Communication 143 4 Our Performance 146 How well have we done? 147 Current Spending Review Targets 148 PSA 28: Secure a healthy natural environment for everyone’s wellbeing, 149 health and prosperity, now and in the future DSO 1: A society that is adapting to the effects of climate change, through 151 a national programme of action and a contribution to international action DSO 2: A healthy, resilient, productive and diverse natural environment 152 DSO 3: Sustainable, low carbon and resource efficient patterns of 155 consumption and production DSO 4: An economy and a society that are resilient to environmental risk 158 DSO 5: Championing sustainable development 161 DSO 6: A thriving farming and food sector, with an improving net 162 environmental impact DSO 7: A sustainable, secure and healthy food supply 167 DSO 8: Socially and economically sustainable rural communities 168 DSO 9: A respected department, delivering efficient and high quality 172 services and outcomes Previous Spending Review Targets 173 PSA 3a: Reversing the long-term decline in the number of farmland birds 174 PSA 3b: Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) 176 PSA 9: To improve the health and welfare of kept animals, and protect 177 society from the impact of animal diseases, through sharing the management of risk with industry v Annex A: Better Regulation 181 Annex B: Summary of updates to information in earlier 188 Departmental Reports Annex C: The Defra Network 190 Annex D: Defra responses to PAC recommendations 195 Annex E: SCS by payband 202 Annex F: Correspondence with Ministers and the Public 203 Annex G: Public Complaints 204 Annex H: Expenditure on Professional Services and Consultancy 205 Annex I: Core Tables 208 Foreword from the Secretary of State vii Foreword from the Secretary of State It has been a year of achievement at Defra. With the Marine and Coastal Access Bill we have made progress on protecting our seas and opening up our coastline. We’ve put an end to destructive dredging in Lyme Bay, begun a comprehensive look at the health of England’s ecosystems and created a new national park in the South Downs. We've worked with farmers to deal with diseases like avian influenza and Bluetongue, and having made a difficult decision on bovine TB and badgers, we’re now moving towards testing an injectable TB vaccine. In addition, we’ve built more flood defences, protecting thousands of homes, and published the Draft Floods and Water Management Bill. With the creation of the Department of Energy and Climate Change and changed economic circumstances, our priorities are more than ever about providing practical help to individuals, communities and businesses. With our new responsibility for coordinating food policy across government we are working to keep supply chains secure and we’ve established the Council of Food Policy Advisers. We’ve been tracking the impact of the recession on rural communities, and working with Regional Development Agencies and others to provide support where it is needed. We’ve also made help available to farmers through the Rural Development Programme for England and overseen a further improvement in the performance of the single payment scheme. Defra's task to help us all live within our environmental means, and protecting our environment remains a priority, even in tough times; it is one of the most precious economic resources we have. The next 12 months will be critical, not only because the world will be striving to reach an agreement on climate change at Copenhagen in December, but also because we have the chance now to create a more sustainable and greener society. This will mean being resource efficient, improving our resilience to a changing climate, creating an agriculture sector that is both sustainable and productive, and developing the skills, training and innovation that all of this requires. Finally, I would like to thank the staff at Defra and all of our agencies for their hard work, commitment and professionalism. It is a privilege to work alongside them. Rt Hon. Hilary Benn MP Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs viii Departmental Report 2009 Executive Summary There can be no doubt that 2008/09 has been a challenging year in many ways. In the current economic climate, we are putting much of our focus on the economic and social issues being faced by our customers and those we seek to influence. However, one of the advantages of a Departmental Report is that it allows us to take a more considered view over the whole year. This shows that 2008/09 has been a year of strategic and operational success for Defra across the wide range of objectives that we have. The achievement of those objectives and ability to quickly realign our resources to changing circumstances has been greatly helped by the success of our Renew Defra programme, which ended on schedule at the end of September 2008. Defra is now an organisation in which staff and resources work to a programme and project structure with the in-built flexibility to adapt quickly to changing priorities. Our portfolio management approach helps to prioritise the right activities, our flexible staff resourcing system helps to ensure we have the right resource at the right time, and our policy cycle framework helps to ensure we deliver the right results. These changes have taken considerable effort and so I was delighted that Defra colleagues were rewarded for their commitment to these changes with the very positive picture of progress reported in our 2009 Capability Review. In the current economic circumstances, some might be forgiven for thinking that the environment is a luxury we cannot afford. As Chapter 1 shows, our evidence- based strategy illustrates that not only would this be a mistake in the long term but it would also be a mistake in the short term. There is a powerful link between economic efficiency and sustainability.

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