Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs single departmental plan
Updated 27 June 2019
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Our single departmental plan sets out our objectives and how we will achieve them.
Image credit: Kathryn Brown/Committee on Climate Change
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Permanent Secretary
Defra group’s mission is to protect and enhance the environment – with policies and actions that are also key to sustainable national growth.
Our challenging agenda includes handling and delivering on three flagship bills, meeting our ambition to leave the environment in a better state than we found it, and preparing Defra group and our stakeholders for EU exit.
This year – our Year of Green Action – we will push on with our legislation while continuing to deliver on the wider commitments in our 25 Year Environment Plan, including tackling plastic pollution and clean air.
The Environment Bill will embed environmental ambition and accountability at the heart of government; our Agriculture Bill rewards farmers for tackling the causes and effects of climate change and enhancing the environment; and our Fisheries Bill enables us to manage stocks more sustainably and protect our waters.
Our aim is to make a permanent step-change in dealing with climate change and restoring our degraded environment.
Our objectives
We will:
-
Deliver a safe and ambitious departure from the EU, setting global standards in protecting and harnessing value from the natural environment
-
Pass on to the next generation a natural environment protected and enhanced for the future
-
Lead the world in food and farming with a sustainable model of food production
-
Become an outstanding organisation focused on making a difference, with world class delivery capability
1. Deliver a safe and ambitious departure from the EU, setting global standards in protecting and harnessing value from the natural environment
Lead minister
The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
David Rutley MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Food and Animal Welfare
Lead officials
Emily Miles, DG EU Exit Delivery
Shaun Gallagher, DG Strategy Delivery
1.1 Manage EU Exit for Defra group
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Coordinate the delivery of 53 EU exit projects, creating new functions and services across Defra group in areas such as environment and fisheries, and ensuring we are ready for multiple scenarios, including a deal and an implementation period |
| Engage and build relationships with Devolved Administrations, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as we support ministers in the vital challenge of sustaining the UK Union and the constitutional settlement |
| Support a smooth exit by ensuring that we have a functioning legal framework that maximises opportunities, including supporting the passage of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill |
| Deliver the Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment Bills, seizing the opportunities of a green EU exit |
| Lead negotiations on the Future Economic Partnership with the European Union on agriculture, food, fisheries and environmental matters, working closely with DIT, HMT, DExEU and BEIS |
| Coordinate Defra group’s position and input into non-EU UK trade negotiations (contributes to SDG 17) |
| Work with DfT and HMRC to develop and deliver a border operability programme, including defining an approach for the border for Defra group commodities, and understanding and communicating the impacts of change |
| Support Defra group’s wider engagement with stakeholders so that they are prepared as well as they can be for EU exit, and that concerns on cross-cutting issues like borders and tariffs are captured and fed into government planning |
| Manage the delivery of all projects across our EU exit portfolio, coordinate and support the work of the cross-cutting workstreams, and undertake readiness assessments for Defra group and Local Authorities |
2. Pass on to the next generation a natural environment protected and enhanced for the future
Lead ministers
Thérèse Coffey MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Environment
Robert Goodwill MP, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Lord Gardiner of Kimble, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity
David Rutley MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Food and Animal Welfare
Lead officials
Sonia Phippard, DG Environment, Rural and Marine
Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of Environment Agency
2.1 Ensure clean air
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Deliver commitments in the Nitrogen Dioxide Air Quality Plan, including supporting Clean Air Zones (contributes to SDGs 11 and 12) |
| Deliver commitments in the wider Clean Air Strategy and the National Air Pollution Control Programme to improve how information on air quality is provided, including better access to air quality forecasts and health advice (contributes to SDG 11) |
| Monitor air quality through the UK’s air quality network and reduce emissions from permitted sites through the Industrial Emissions and Medium Combustion Plant Directives |
2.2 Ensure clean and plentiful water
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Work with industry to deliver the Water Industry National Environment Programme actions by 2025 |
| Maintain the high level of environmental protection achieved to date, through preventative action to avoid deterioration of the water environment and reversing deterioration when it occurs (contributes to SDG 6) |
| Ensure resilient, sustainable, affordable water services to homes and businesses, through a strategic framework for water sector planning and investment, and strengthened regulatory framework (contributes to SDGs 6 and 9) |
| Work with Ofwat to deliver agreed outcomes from the 2019 price review, ensuring the water industry works as hard for the environment and customers as it does for its investors, strengthening Ofwat’s powers to hold the industry to account if needed |
2.3 Encourage thriving plants and wildlife
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Ensure our seas are cleaner, healthier, safer, more productive and biologically diverse, by implementing the UK Marine Strategy and increasing the proportion of protected and well-managed seas (contributes to SDG 14) |
| Champion international efforts to protect the ocean, including 30% of the global ocean in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2030, through fora such as Convention for Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR), and the Commonwealth |
| Work internationally to halt biodiversity loss, including driving global action on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, as a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Dasgupta Review of the Economics of Biodiversity (contributes to SDGs 15 and 17) |
| Fully implement the Ivory Act, bringing into force the UK ban on ivory sales (contributes to SDG 15) |
| Mainstream biodiversity net gain for developments when granting planning permission (contributes to SDG 15) |
| Develop a Nature Recovery Network including creation or restoration of 500,000 hectares of wildlife rich habitat as part of the new Nature Strategy (contributes to SDG 15) |
| Protect, improve and expand England’s woodlands, including planting 11 million trees this Parliament and keeping the public forest estate in trust for the nation (contributes to SDG 15) |
2.4 Reduce risk of flooding
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Build, maintain and operate high quality flood and coastal erosion risk management assets, delivering the 2015-2021 six year capital programme and better protecting 300,000 homes (contributes to SDG 11) |
| Gather operational experience in delivering the current flood programme and use our new Long Term Investment Scenarios evidence to inform the development of a post-2021 flood and coast programme (contributes to SDG 11) |
| Seek to share responsibility for flood protection with others who are best placed to deliver local flood risk management, for example via work with MHCLG, BEIS, DfT, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Internal Drainage Boards and local communities |
| Coordinate the delivery of the National Flood Resilience Review commitments across government, including working with the water sector to deliver improvements to the flood resilience of their assets |
| Deliver the Surface Water Management Action Plan, the £13 million boost to flood alerts, property flood resilience and surface water flood risk, and the £15 million natural flood management programme (contributes to SDGs 11 and 13) |
2.5 Reduce risk of harm from other environmental hazards
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Provide an effective framework to support the environmentally safe and sustainable harnessing of shale gas, implemented through strong engagement, provision of advice and robust regulation |
| Ensure a water infrastructure and water environment that can cope with extreme events by producing national and local resilience and incident response plans, including drought plans (contributes to SDGs 9, 11 and 13) |
| Implement the new Incident Response Model to ensure we are Major Incident Ready, fulfil our lead government role in response and recovery, and manage relevant national risks (contributes to SDG 11) |
| Work with the Health & Safety Executive and others to reduce the risk of major accidents at Control of Major Accident Hazard sites, targeting regulatory effort where risk of deterioration is greatest (contributes to SDG 11) |
2.6 Use resources from nature more sustainably and efficiently
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Develop policy to implement a world-class fisheries management system based on the principle of maximum sustainable yield and help to ensure prosperity for a new generation of fishers (contributes to SDG 14) |
| Promote innovation and activities which deliver sustainable growth/environmental benefits across the seafood chain, via strategic management of the UK European Maritime and Fisheries Fund scheme and the Seafood Innovation Fund with BEIS |
| Develop a new Environmental Land Management system through establishment of tests and trials, and engaging regularly with partners including farmers, other land managers, environmental experts and NGOs (contributes to SDG 2) |
| Publish the England Peatland Strategy as a key part of delivering improved soil management |
| Publish the English Tree Strategy to set out how we intend to use a natural capital approach to rural and urban forestry to maximise the biodiversity, water, climate, noise and other benefits trees can provide (contributes to SDG 15) |
2.7 Enhance beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Encourage everyone to play their part in improving our environment, engaging and promoting action at all levels of society through the ‘2019 Year of Green Action’ (contributes to SDG 13) |
| Improve public access to the countryside and public forest estate, continue to increase the legally secure rights of way around the coast, and maintain navigable waterways for safe and open access for users (contributes to SDGs 3 and 11) |
| Connect people with the environment to improve health and wellbeing, including the Children and Nature Programme with DfE, and the Mental Health Programme with Public Health England and NHS England (contributes to SDGs 3 and 11) |
| Publish and respond to the independent Glover Review of protected landscapes, ensuring Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks continue to meet 21st century needs |
2.8 Mitigate and adapt to climate change
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Deliver statutory climate adaptation obligations under UK Climate Change Act and drive delivery of the National Adaptation Plan to strengthen resilience to climate change (contributes to SDG 13) |
| Support BEIS in the delivery of the Clean Growth Strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across Defra group sectors (agriculture, waste, fluorinated gases, forestry and land use) (contributes to SDG 13) |
| Oversee and report annually on progress towards meeting Greening Government Commitments, demonstrating the UK government’s determination to operate in an efficient and sustainable manner (contributes to SDG 13) |
2.9 Minimise waste
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Continue to show leadership on tackling plastic pollution, including delivering the policies and commitments in the Resources and Waste Strategy (contributes to SDG 12) |
| Deliver commitments in the National Litter Strategy with the aim to clean up the country and achieve a substantial reduction in litter |
| Take forward measures to reform Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging, introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (subject to consultation), and ensure consistent and frequent collections for household rubbish and recycling |
| Implement new regulations to tackle waste crime, stop illegal waste activities and reduce illegal waste sites (contributes to SDG 12) |
| Work with BEIS, DfT and Devolved Administrations to implement the OSPAR Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (contributes to SDG 14) |
| Continue to drive UK international leadership on marine plastic pollution through domestic, regional and global action, via UK membership of the G7, G20, UN, OSPAR and the Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance (contributes to SDG 14) |
2.10 Manage exposure to chemicals
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Lead joint Defra/HSE programme of work to develop a pesticides and chemicals regulatory regime following EU exit that safeguards human health and the environment (contributes to SDGs 3 and 12) |
| Work with BEIS and industry to reduce risks from legacy nuclear facilities, and ensure that new nuclear power stations meet world-class environmental standards |
| Clean up contaminated land and minewater, including managing orphaned sites, through a prioritised work programme |
2.11 Encourage thriving rural economies and communities
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Work with MHCLG to ensure the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help rural businesses and communities |
| Work with other government departments on business support, digital connectivity, broadband, housing, education, healthcare, transport and crime in rural areas (contributes to SDG 8) |
| Strengthen rural communities, including through the £3 million Village Halls Fund and implementing our commitments in the government’s Loneliness Strategy |
| Embed rural proofing across government so policies take proper account of needs of rural businesses and communities (contributes to SDG 8) |
Our performance
Emissions of key air pollutants in the UK (NOx in millions of tons)
| Year | NOx in millions of tons |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.87 |
| 2016 | 0.90 |
| 2015 | 1.00 |
| 2014 | 1.04 |
| 2013 | 1.10 |
Source: National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory / Release schedule: annually
English seas covered by Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
| Year | English inshore waters | English offshore waters | All English waters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 46% | 33% | 36% |
| 2017 | 42% | 33% | 35% |
| 2016 | 29% | 20% | 22% |
| 2015 | 24% | 15% | 17% |
| 2014 | 24% | 15% | 17% |
Source: MPA network statistics, JNCC / Release schedule: annually
Condition of protected sites
| Year | Favourable condition | Unfavourable recovering condition |
|---|---|---|
| 2018/19 | 38.8% | 55.5% |
| 2017/18 | 38.7% | 55.5% |
| 2016/17 | 39.0% | 56.0% |
| 2015/16 | 38.5% | 57.4% |
Source: Natural England / Release schedule: quarterly
Condition of priority habitats (Percentage area of priority habitats in favourable or recovering condition)
| Year | Favourable or recovering condition |
|---|---|
| 2018/19 | 64% |
| 2017/18 | 64% |
| 2016/17 | 65% |
| 2015/16 | 62% |
| 2014/15 | 55% |
Source: Natural England / Release schedule: quarterly
Additional homes better protected from flooding
| Year | Number of homes |
|---|---|
| 2018/19 | 194,000 |
| 2017/18 | 143,000 |
| 2016/17 | 97,000 |
| 2015/16 | 54,000 |
Source: Environment Agency (cumulative data) / Release schedule: quarterly
Reduction in serious pollution incidents
| Year | Number of incidents |
|---|---|
| 2018/19 | 494 |
| 2017/18 | 430 |
| 2016/17 | 495 |
| 2015/16 | 507 |
| 2014/15 | 602 |
Source: Environment Agency / Release schedule: quarterly
Rural productivity (predominantly rural areas)
| Year | Gross Value Added per workforce job (£000) |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 43.7 |
| 2016 | 44.7 |
| 2015 | 43.9 |
| 2014 | 44.5 |
Source: Office for National Statistics / Release schedule: quarterly
3. Lead the world in food and farming with a sustainable model of food production
Lead ministers
Robert Goodwill MP, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Lord Gardiner of Kimble, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity
David Rutley MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Food and Animal Welfare
Lead officials
David Kennedy, DG Food, Farming and Biosecurity
3.1 Develop a productive and resilient food system
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Make the UK a world leader at maintaining the confidence of food and drink consumers, through high food standards and informative food labelling (contributes to SDG 2) |
| With DHSC and Food Standards Agency, ensure England has the regulatory and governance framework in place to protect consumer interests on food safety, compositional standards and labelling (contributes to SDG 2) |
| Make the UK a great place to start, thrive and grow as a farming or food and drink business, and help our businesses to deliver high quality products to more consumer markets across the globe (contributes to SDG 2) |
| Work with BEIS to champion the agri-food sector in the Industrial Strategy Grand Challenges, lead on food Sector Deal proposals, and act as cross-government lead and sponsor for the industry-led Food and Drink Sector Council |
3.2 Develop a world leading farming system
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Continue to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support across the UK until the end of the Parliament, expected in 2022, covering funds under both pillars of the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (contributes to SDGs 2 and 15) |
| Develop a domestic agriculture policy that delivers an Environmental Land Management system based on public money for public goods (contributes to SDG 2) |
| Ensure there is a smooth agriculture transition period (2021-2027), giving certainty and clarity to farmers on our offer, including support for productivity improvements (contributes to SDG 2) |
| Work with DIT to deliver trade deals that work for UK farmers, businesses, and consumers (contributes to SDG 2) |
| Develop a new, fairer, integrated and targeted enforcement system which maintains a strong regulatory baseline, whilst simultaneously reducing the regulatory burden on farming businesses |
3.3 Protect plants from health risks
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Facilitate a proactive and systematic approach to identifying, assessing and managing plant health threats and response to outbreaks through the UK Plant Health Risk Group (contributes to SDGs 2 and 15) |
| Implement the Tree Health Resilience Strategy and develop a future system of public money for improved tree health outcomes as we exit the EU |
| Working in partnership with industry and the public, enhance biosecurity to prevent the arrival and spread of harmful plant pests and diseases, to protect our economy, environment and reputation as a safe trading partner (contributes to SDG 15) |
3.4 Protect animals from health risk and ensure high animal welfare standards
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Continue the 25 year Bovine Tuberculosis Strategy, including larger badger control area, increased interferon gamma testing, and further cattle measures |
| Enhance biosecurity to prevent the arrival and spread of invasive non-native animal species, and deal with animal pests and diseases when they appear, reopening our export markets promptly (contributes to SDGs 2 and 15) |
| Deliver a multi-species Livestock Information Service that will give us a competitive trade advantage, make us more resilient and responsive to animal disease and drive innovation, interoperability and productivity improvements throughout the meat and livestock sectors |
| Regulate veterinary medicines to ensure safe and effective medicines are available to treat animal diseases, and work with industry to reduce anti-microbial resistance |
| Support the global health security agenda on anti-microbial resistance, and work with DHSC and DFID in delivering the One Health approach to the UK |
| Pursue an ambitious animal welfare agenda relating to EU exit opportunities by supporting enhanced welfare through new future farming policy and trade deals |
| Act proactively to reduce the risk of harm to animals kept by people – whether on farms, in transport, at slaughter or as pets |
Our performance
Value of British food and drink exported
| Year | Value of exports (£billion) |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 22.6 |
| 2017 | 22.1 |
| 2016 | 20.2 |
| 2015 | 18.2 |
Source: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Trade Statistics unit / Release schedule: quarterly
Proportion of cattle herds that are bovine TB free
| Year | % (average) |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 94.0 |
| 2017 | 94.0 |
| 2016 | 94.4 |
| 2015 | 94.3 |
Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency / Release schedule: quarterly
Antibiotic use in farming animals and fisheries
| Year | mg/Kg |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 37 |
| 2016 | 45 |
| 2015 | 57 |
| 2014 | 62 |
Source: Veterinary Medicines Directorate / Release schedule: annually
4. Become an outstanding organisation focused on making a difference, with world class delivery capability
Lead minister
The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Robert Goodwill MP, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Lead officials
Shaun Gallagher, DG Strategy Delivery
Professor Ian Boyd, Chief Scientific Adviser
Sarah Homer, DG Chief Operating Officer
4.1 Set strategic direction for Defra group
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Support Defra group by planning for a number of EU exit scenarios, and lead prioritisation activities to ensure Defra group’s resource is focussed on the most critical work |
| Provide strategic direction to our domestic policy priorities in the context of our EU exit work, ministerial decisions on prioritisation, fiscal planning and the Spending Review 2019 |
| Deliver and manage the Defra group-wide risk management approach, including quarterly reporting of strategic risk to the Defra Board, Executive Committee, and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee |
4.2 Deliver scientific and analytical excellence
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Place high quality, cutting-edge science, analysis and policy thinking at the heart of Defra group, including by championing investment in science, research and innovation, and by enhancing science capability internally |
| Build strong scientific, analytical and policy-making capability across Defra group by increasing collaboration with academic and other partners across government, such as HMT, Government Office for Science and UK Research and Innovation |
| Support cross-government work on a Science and Innovation Agreement as part of the UK’s Future Economic Partnership with the EU, to enable continued collaborations with European and international partners |
4.3 Provide corporate support for Defra group
| How we will achieve this |
|---|
| Support delivery of EU exit and Defra group’s wider strategic priorities, such as a Catch Certificate system for imports/exports of fish and a new system for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) |
| Make Defra group a better place to work by implementing our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, and by improving the end user experience of corporate services, for example through the Smarter Ways of Working programme |
| Enable smarter ways of working to achieve greater productivity and collaboration across Defra group |
| Work with MHCLG and the One Public Estate programme to create more land for housing and release capital whilst also looking for efficiencies |
| Continue transforming corporate service functions within Defra group, including embedding the operating model and governance framework, implementing contract management capability training, and making improvements to systems |
Our performance
People survey engagement score
| Year | Score |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 61% |
| 2017 | 61% |
| 2016 | 56% |
Source: Civil Service People Survey / Release schedule: annually
Representation of female staff, ethnic minority staff and disabled staff
| Year | Female | Ethnic minority | Disabled |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 55% | 7.4% | 14.6% |
| 2017 | 54.4% | 7.4% | 13.3% |
| 2016 | 53.8% | 7.4% | 11.2% |
Source: Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard / Release schedule: quarterly
Greenhouse gas emissions
| Year | Total emissions |
|---|---|
| 2017/18 | 41% reduction since baseline of 2009/10 |
| 2016/17 | 37% reduction since baseline of 2009/10 |
Source: Greening Government Commitments annual reports / Release schedule: annually
% of spend that is allocated to SME (direct and indirect spend)
| Year | Percentage of total spend |
|---|---|
| 2017/18 | 26.2% |
| 2016/17 | 25.0% |
| 2015/16 | 21.9% |
Source: Central government spend with SMEs data / Release schedule: annually
Public value framework
To support the delivery of our objectives, we will be improving our performance against the Public Value Framework in the following areas:
- understanding vision and goals
- user and client experience and participation
- capacity to evaluate impact
Our equality objectives
We published our Defra group Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy in January 2017, which sets out our equality objectives from 2017 to 2020. The strategy is used to embed EDI into ways of working in the department, and the public can see the action we are taking in accordance with our requirements under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Our EDI objectives are ambitious and comprehensive, addressing equality, diversity and inclusion under four themes:
- Respect: all employees treat each other with respect
- Include: we promote inclusive behaviours and use our data to drive workplace improvements
- Support: we ensure that everyone is supported in the workplace to achieve their full potential
- Engage: we engage with others in the organisation and in the communities that we serve
We will work to ensure that public appointments made by Defra group contribute to realising the ambition that by 2022, 50% of all public appointees are female and 14% of all public appointments made are from ethnic minorities.
Our finances
Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL): £2.78 billion
Resource DEL (including depreciation): £2.16 billion
Capital DEL: £620 million
Annually Managed Expenditure (AME): £260 million
Control totals included in this document are in line with those presented in the Main Supply Estimates 2019/20 and are currently subject to Parliamentary approval. Any changes arising from the Parliamentary approval process will be reflected in due course.
Source: Main Supply Estimates 2019/20
Our people
As at 31 December 2018, Defra group had 22,150 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. This comprises employees in both the core department and agencies.
Source: ONS Public sector employment data / Release schedule: quarterly