Work of the Department and its arm’s-length bodies

A key responsibility of the EFRA Committee is to scrutinise the policy, spending and administration of Defra and its arms-length bodies. To achieve this, the Committee will hold regular evidence sessions with the Secretary of State, Defra Ministers and senior officials from both the Department and the organisations for which it is responsible. The transcripts of those sessions and related correspondence and written evidence are collected here. The Committee will also call for evidence on a regular basis and produce iterative and focused reports on this subject. Topics for scrutiny may include, but are not limited to: the effectiveness of the regulatory landscape, the capacity of Defra’s regulators to monitor the environment, enforce environmental protections, and take into account other duties, such as those for “growth”, the project management, deployment and overall delivery of government-funded projects, programmes and initiatives, services delivered and other direct responsibilities of arms-length bodies, such as environmental permits and management of protected and forested areas, the accessibility of Defra and its arms-length bodies to citizens, including engagement with local expertise and complaints procedures, relationships with local government and making devolution work for Defra’s policy areas. The Committee will also consider the effectiveness of the machinery of government when it comes to important cross-government issues such as: climate adaptation and mitigation, environmental protection, nature recovery and nature-based solutions to societal problems that are within the remit of other departments, the impact of trade policy on domestic industry and environmental targets, impacts on and opportunities for rural and remote communities; particularly the Government’s ‘rural proofing’ policy, working with local government, responding to emergency incidents such as flooding and other extreme weather events. If you have information or evidence which may be of interest to the Committee, please contact: efracom@parliament.uk .