Committee to scrutinise Defra and Natural England on rural effectiveness

Michael Gove is the current Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Michael Gove is the current Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

A House of Lords session commencing today will take evidence surrounding the issue of whether the government has an effective voice for rural communities and farmers' needs.

The House of Lords Select Committee is to particularly scrutinise the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). They will also question Natural England's effectiveness.

Defra is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding the natural environment, implementing farm policy and sustaining a thriving rural community.

The Committee will consider whether or not Defra is providing the ‘rural voice’ which these communities need and if policies from the NERC 2006 Act have been implemented satisfactorily.

The NERC Act was designed to help achieve a rich and diverse natural environment, and thriving rural communities through modernised and simplified arrangements for delivering government policy.

Natural England

The Committee will also consider how well Natural England is performing its function of ensuring “that the natural environment is conserved, enhanced and managed”.

Natural England in the past has been scrutinised by MPs over poor Countryside Stewardship performance.

Many farmers who applied for the mid-tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme waited weeks to hear from Natural England if they had been successful

It led to the NFU's vice-president Guy Smith saying: “Too often we are hearing Natural England using euphemistic terms such as ‘real-time management’ and ‘agile build’ when it comes to their approach.

“As farmers, we call that ‘suck it and see’ or ‘doing it by the seat of the pants’. This is not satisfactory and we want to see Natural England more on top of this very soon.”

'Rural-proofed'

The evidence session is seen as an opportunity to ask representatives of Defra and Natural England whether they are able to be effective in delivering policies.

The evidence commenced at 11:05am. Questions included were:

• Is it part of Defra's role to champion the needs of rural communities within government when dealing with other departments?

• What is Defra doing to ensure that policies across government are rural-proofed?

• How does Natural England seek to balance its obligations to the environment while at the same time promoting economic growth?

• Is there anything Natural England would like to do more of that it cannot do at present due to a lack of resources or powers?

• How does the biodiversity duty contained in the 2006 Act compare to similar duties on public bodies in Wales and Scotland in terms of impact?