DEFRA has released details of the portfolios of Owen Patterson, secretary of state, David Heath, minister of state for agriculture and food, Richard Benyon, parliamentary under-secretary for natural environment, water and rural affairs and Lord de Mauley, parliamentary under-secretary for resource management, the local environment and environmental science.
Here’s what subjects will be fill filling the ministers’ in-trays:
Paterson’s portfolio
- Strategy and overall responsibility for departmental policy
- Budget and finances
- Legislative programme
- Emergencies
- EU and international relations
- Environment Agency and Natural England
Heath’s portfolio
Agriculture
- Common Agricultural Policy and deputising for the secretary of state at EU Agriculture Council
- Single payments scheme and the Rural Payments Agency
- New Covent Garden Market Authority
- Better regulation
- Climate change mitigation in the agriculture sector
- Agricultural wages, gangmasters’ licensing and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme
- Rural Development Programme for England (joint with Benyon).
Animal health
- Management of endemic and exotic diseases (including bovine TB)
- Animal Health and Welfare Board for England
- Welfare of farm animals
- Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency
- Veterinary Medicines Directorate
Forestry
- Domestic forestry policy
- Response to the Independent Panel on Forestry ’s report
- Forestry Commission
Commons handling of Lords portfolio
- Nanotechnology, pesticides, chemicals and industrial pollution
- Genetically modified organisms
- Plant and bee health
- Green economy, sustainable consumption and production
- Welfare of companion and wild animals (including circuses, dangerous dogs and zoos)
Benyon’s portfolio
Natural Environment
- Biodiversity (domestic and international, including international forestry)
- Land management and soil (including commons and contaminated land)
- National parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty
- Ecosystem services
- Joint Nature Conservation Committee
- Wildlife management
Water and marine
- Flooding and coastal erosion
- Inland waterways
- Water resource management and quality (including Ofwat)
- Fisheries, including Common Fisheries Policy and EU Fisheries Council
- Marine environment (including marine and coastal access act implementation and marine management organisation)
Rural affairs
- Economic development (including broadband and mobile technologies)
- Skills and apprenticeships
- Countryside and rights of way including coastal and wider access
- Rural development programme for England (joint with Heath)
Commons handling of Lords portfolio
- Air quality, noise and litter
- Climate change adaptation and mitigation (including biofuels)
- Environmental regulation
- Environmental Science
- Localism and civil society
- Waste and management
Lord de Mauley’s portfolio
All departmental business in the House of Lords
Resource Management
- Climate change adaptation
- Environmental impacts of climate change mitigation (including biofuels)
- Environmental regulation (including deputising for the secretary of state at EU Environment Council)
- Sustainable consumption and production
- Waste management
Local Environment
- Air quality
- Noise and litter
- Welfare of companion and wild animals (including circuses, dangerous dogs and zoos)
- Localism and civil society
Science and research
- Environmental science
- Nanotechnology
- Pesticides, chemicals and industrial pollution
- Genetically modified organisms
- Plant and bee health
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
- Food and Environment Research Agency
