Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Departmental

Departmental Report 2007 Defra deals with the essentials of life – food, air, land, water and people www.defra.gov.uk www.defra.gov.uk This document is part of a series of Departmental Reports (Cm 7091 to Cm 7117) which, along with the Main Estimates 2007-08, the document Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2007 and the Supplementary Budgetary Information 2007-08, present the Government's expenditure plans for 2007-08, and comparative outturn data for prior years. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Departmental Report 2007 Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by Command of Her Majesty May 2007 Cm 7103 £32.50 © Crown Copyright 2007 The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and departmental logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium providing that it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. 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Fax: 01603 723000 or e-mail: [email protected] Contents iii Foreword from the Secretary of State vi Executive Summary of our performance from the Permanent Secretary vii Chapter 1: Aim, strategic priorities and Departmental structure 2 Defra’s Strategy 3 Renew Defra Programme 4 Accountability 5 Chapter 2: Tackling climate change 8 Public Service Agreement target 2: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions 10 Climate Change Bill 11 Energy Review 13 European Union Emissions Trading Scheme 14 UK Emissions Trading Scheme 15 Climate Change Agreements 16 The Carbon Trust 16 The Energy Saving Trust 16 Energy Services Directive 18 Public Service Agreement target 7: Eliminate fuel poverty 20 Public Service Agreement target 8: Improving air quality 21 Chapter 3: Sustainable development 29 Public Service Agreement target 1: Promoting sustainable development 30 Headline Indicators 30 Working with others in the United Kingdom 33 Working internationally 34 Chapter 4: Sustainable consumption and production 37 Public Service Agreement target 6: Waste and recycling 40 Waste Implementation Programme 42 Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme 43 Waste and Resources Action Programme 43 Chapter 5: The natural environment 47 Biodiversity 48 Public Service Agreement target 3a: Reversing the long-term decline in the number of farmland birds 49 Public Service Agreement target 3b: Sites of Special Scientific Interest 52 Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 54 Wildlife Crime 55 Land and Soils 57 Access and Recreation 58 Water 59 Marine and Fisheries 60 Local environment quality 62 Chemicals regulation and nanotechnology 64 iv Departmental Report 2007 Chapter 6: Farming and food; animal health and welfare 67 Public Service Agreement target 5: Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy 68 Public Service Agreement target 5: Sustainable farming and food 71 The Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain 74 Public Service Agreement target 9: National Scrapie Plan (NSP) 75 Public Service Agreement target 9: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) 76 Public Service Agreement target 9: Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) 78 Development of Livestock Register 81 Cattle Identification Register 81 National Equine Database 81 Independent Review of Livestock Movement Rules 82 Chapter 7: Sustainable rural communities 85 Commission for Rural Communities 86 Public Service Agreement target 4: Enhancing opportunity in rural England 86 Productivity of rural areas 87 Access to services in rural areas 88 England Rural Development Programme 90 European Structural Funds 91 Affordable Rural Housing 92 Rural Social and Community Programme 92 Chapter 8: Preparing for emergencies 94 Contingency Planning in Defra 96 Water Supply Incidents 97 Animal disease preparedness 97 Nuclear Emergency Planning and Radioactive Incident Monitoring Network (RIMNET) 99 Flood and coastal erosion risk management 99 Chapter 9: Better Regulation and corporate services 104 Better regulation and simplification 106 Hampton mergers 107 Departmental Capability Review 108 Efficiency Programme 109 Science in Defra 113 Legal Group 115 Shared services 117 Finance 118 Commercial management and procurement 120 Information Services in Defra 123 Estates and Sustainable Operations 125 Ministerial correspondence 126 Human Resources 126 Contents` v Chapter 10: Defra’s delivery partners 132 Defra’s Delivery Strategy 134 Rural Payments Agency 136 Veterinary Laboratories Agency 139 Central Science Laboratory 141 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science 144 Pesticide Safety Directorate 146 Veterinary Medicines Directorate 150 Animal Health 152 Marine and Fisheries Agency 155 Government Decontamination Service 158 Forestry Commission 160 Environment Agency 163 Natural England 165 British Waterways 166 Chapter 11: Core tables 168 Appendix 1: 197 Summary of progress against outstanding Spending Review 2004 Public Service Agreements Appendix 2: 202 Health and Safety in Defra Index 203 vi Departmental Report 2007 Foreword from the Secretary of State When I arrived in Defra a year ago, I set in train a review of the Department’s aims and priorities, and the way it does its business, from engaging with citizens and business to how the organisation is lined up to deliver our priority goals. This process of refreshing our strategy has confirmed my conviction that we are now facing challenges in the environmental arena of a new order of magnitude. We are, as a nation, living well beyond our environmental means. If everyone in the world lived as we do in the UK, we would need three planets to support us. Therefore Defra, together with our partners across government and internationally, need to move towards what WWF and Bioregional have called “One Planet Living”. The mitigation of climate change and protection of natural resources are the two complementary drivers of our work. Over the past year, we have made major progress towards aligning Defra policies towards this goal. The Climate Change Bill is the world’s first legislative framework to manage the transition to a low carbon economy. The Energy Review, the next phase of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, and the decisions from the European Council will help to drive the changes in our energy system required to meet our obligations. The forthcoming Waste Strategy will continue our progress in reducing, recycling and recovering waste. The Marine Bill White Paper creates a new spatial planning framework for our seas. We have also agreed to funding for the Rural Development Programme for England that will continue the shift towards paying farmers to deliver environmental public goods. I am well aware that we can only achieve our goals if we also maintain our reputation as a Department by responding to the needs of our customers. Most obviously, this includes the task of making accurate payments to farmers under the Single Payment Scheme. We didn’t get that right last year, but the Rural Payments Agency has made real efforts to correct the problems. We must also continue to focus our efforts to ensure that people and the economy are protected from the risks of flooding and animal diseases, that people in rural areas feel confident that we understand and are acting on their concerns, and that we maintain levels of animal welfare. 2007 is a critical year for the environment if we are to mobilise action among individuals, business and governments across the world. I believe Defra is well placed to play a leading role in addressing one of most daunting challenges facing the planet. Rt Hon. David Miliband MP Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Executive Summary of our performance from the Permanent Secretary vii Executive Summary of our performance from the Permanent Secretary 2006 marked the fifth anniversary of Defra, and was a chance to celebrate what we have already achieved as a Department and how far we have come since our creation five years ago. We have made great strides towards achieving a healthier countryside, vibrant rural communities, sustainable food and farming and towards meeting the global challenge of climate change. As this report sets out in detail, we have made progress against our broad range of Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets. We have had notable successes with the groundbreaking Animal Welfare Act and in handling emergencies, reforming the Common Agricultural Policy, providing international leadership on climate change and implementing the highly successful Environmental Stewardship Scheme, to name just a few. Here, however, I wanted to highlight the organisational changes that have taken place within Defra and the Defra Network over the past year, to provide some context for the reforms over the coming year and to set out my vision for the future direction of the Department. In 2006, we established a number of new organisations. In September 2006, jointly with other government Departments, we created the Office of Climate Change (OCC). This is a ground-breaking approach to responding to cross-cutting issues. It provides a shared government resource for climate change analysis and policy development, reporting in to a group of Ministers from all the interested Departments. The OCC has already done some important work, for example, in leading on the drafting and publication of a draft Climate Change Bill in March 2007 which

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