14 May 2019

‘Blank cheque’ Ag Bill will cut out formal consultation on public goods scheme Farmers Guardian: News 08 May 2019 Abi Kay Farm bodies will not be formally consulted on the detail of Defra’s public money for public goods scheme and the policy will receive less scrutiny than other major legislative changes, Farmers Guardian can confirm. In an […]

11 May 2019

Defra: Consultation on Marine Strategy Part One: Defra, Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs Northern Ireland, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government are seeking views on the UK’s updated assessment of the progress made towards achieving GES for the UK Seas and the proposed objectives, targets and indicators that will be used for […]

11 May 2019

The Environmental Audit Committee published its sustainable seas report in January calling for action by Government to end the use of seas as a sewer, and criticising its ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach. Recommendations focused on tackling threats to marine life from climate change, overfishing and pollution – especially the risk of long-term […]

06 May 2019

Systems Thinking in Government: Defra Launches Systems Research Programme Ian Boyd Defra – ‘This programme breaks new ground by taking a “systems-thinking” approach to understanding the key policy questions across the Defra group. Defra manages different systems such as the food, water, waste, land use or marine. These systems involve many components which interact in defined […]

30 Apr 2019

The publicity and profile of this consultation is being raised as it nears its closing date. Have your say. Defra ‘Your responses to this consultation will help us to consider the merits of introducing a DRS. The aim of the UK and Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern […]

09 Apr 2019

A Defra consultation at the end of last year has concluded that I-VMS will be introduced for all owners or operators of licensed British fishing boats under 12 m in length operating in English waters. The stated policy objective was to gain better information on where all such vessels are fishing, align the requirement for VMS across the whole fleet […]

02 Apr 2019

Following Michael Gove’s recent appearance before the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, it seems Defra is to assess its arms-length agencies after Brexit in a move that could see the Environment Agency merged with Natural England. Environment secretary Michael Gove said that Defra’s director general for strategy delivery Shaun Gallagher would lead the review. […]