Advisory Committee
on Releases to
the Environment

Our governance

Details of our members, terms of membership, meetings and framework agreement.

Although ACRE is a UK-wide advisory body, Defra takes the lead in monitoring its activities and provides the secretariat.

Members

ACRE is an independent Advisory Committee composed of leading scientists. Our current members are:

• Professor Rosemary Hails MBE (Chair)
• Dr Kathy Bamford
• Dr Rosemary Collier
• Professor Ian Crute CBE
• Professor Jim Dunwell
• Dr Matthew Heard
• Professor David Hopkins
• Simon Kerr
• Dr Peter Lund
• Dr Bethan Purse
• Dr Ben Raymond
• Dr Andrew Wilcox

As part of our commitment to transparency we publish a register of our members’ interests and members’ biographies.

ACRE biographies and register of interests (PDF, 193KB, 17 pages)

Recent appointments

Professor David Hopkins (soil biology and biochemistry) has been re-appointed to the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment. The appointment will run from 11 April 2017 to 10 April 2021. Professor Ian Crute (plant pathology and genetics) and Dr. Peter Lund (molecular biology, genomics, systems biology, synthetic biology) have also been re-appointed to the Committee. These appointments will run from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2020. These re-appointments have been made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. The appointees have not declared any political activity in the past five years. ACRE members receive £173.00 per day based on time preparing for, and attending meetings, and travelling time.

Terms of membership

Ministers in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) appoint the committee members for ACRE, together with ministers in the devolved administrations. Appointments are made in accordance with the requirements of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Specifications for new members are agreed between the chair and Defra in order to meet the future challenges facing the committee and in order to fill any gaps in the committee’s expertise.

Members are appointed for 3- or 4-year terms. A member can serve on ACRE for up to 10 years, as long as they are reappointed by ministers. If a new chair is appointed who has previously been a member, they are eligible to begin a new 10-year term.

Committee members do not receive any direct remuneration for their services, although reasonable travel and subsistence expenses can be reimbursed.

Meetings

We meet about 3 times a year.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 26 September 2017 in London and will be open to members of the public to attend as observers.

Minutes of last meeting: 14 March 2017 (PDF, 119KB, 4 pages)

Previous ACRE minutes can be found on the National Archives website.

ACRE framework agreement

This framework document outlines our:

• relationship with Defra
• relationship with devolved administrations and other government bodies
• funding arrangements
• appointments procedure
• code of conduct for members

It also contains our terms of reference.

ACRE framework agreement (PDF, 123KB, 10 pages)