| Agency Name: | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
| Type: | Department |
| Seal: | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs logo.svg |
| Preceding1: | Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food |
| Preceding2: | Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of the United Kingdom |
| Headquarters: | 2 Marsham Street, London |
| Budget: | £2.2 billion (current) & £400 million (capital) for 2011-12[1] |
| Minister Type: | Secretary of State |
| Minister1 Name: | Steve Reed OBE MP |
| Minister1 Pfo: | Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
| Minister3 Name: | Mark Spencer MP |
| Minister3 Pfo: | Minister of State |
| Minister4 Name: | Rebecca Pow MP |
| Minister4 Pfo: | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State |
| Minister5 Name: | Trudy Harrison MP |
| Minister5 Pfo: | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State |
| Minister6 Name: | Lord Benyon |
| Minister6 Pfo: | Minister of State--> |
| Chief1 Name: | Tamara Finkelstein |
| Chief1 Position: | Permanent Secretary |
| Child1 Agency: | Animal and Plant Health Agency |
| Child2 Agency: | Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science |
| Child3 Agency: | Rural Payments Agency |
| Child4 Agency: | Veterinary Medicines Directorate |
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,[2] Welsh Government[3] and Northern Ireland Executive,[4] 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.
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, .[5]
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.[6]
Defra ministers are as follows, with cabinet members in bold:
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 without details of specific portfolios within Defra.
| width=95px | Minister | Portrait | Office | Portfolio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Reed | 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. | ||
| Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries | Farming; food; fisheries; agri-science and innovation; trade; lead for Rural Payments Agency (RPA), Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Marine Management Organisation (MMO), Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), and the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) | |||
| Held jointly with the FCDO. The Minister's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responsibilities include: International nature and wildlife; oceans, domestic and international marine; green finance; Defra official development assistance (ODA) programme; lead for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. | ||||
| Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Nature | Floods; water; resources and waste; air quality and noise; environment regulation, including chemicals; lead for Environment Agency (EA) | |||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water and Rural Growth | Domestic natural environment, wildlife and land use; climate change adaptation; tree planting and forestry; landscapes, including National Parks and AONBs; access including rights of way and coastal paths; lead for Natural England, Forestry Commission and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) | |||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Biosecurity, Animal Health and Welfare | Biosecurity and borders; Northern Ireland; animal welfare[10] |
The Permanent Secretary is Tamara Finkelstein, who replaced Clare Moriarty in 2019.[11] [12]
Defra is responsible for British Government policy in the following areas[13]
Some policies apply to England alone due to devolution, while others are not devolved and therefore apply to the United Kingdom as a whole.
The department's executive agencies are:[14]
The department's key delivery partners are:[17]
A full list of departmental delivery and public bodies may be found on the Defra website.[20]
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:
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".[21]
Under this overarching aim, Defra has five strategic priorities:[22]
Defra Headquarters are at 2, Marsham Street, London.[23] It is also located at Nobel House, 17, Smith Square, London.[24]