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Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

1st Report - Defra performance in 2014-15

HC 443 Published 15 December 2015

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Defra performance in 2014-15 inquiry Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glanceGovernment response published 8 March 2016

The government's response

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government responds to the Committee's report on Defra performance in 2014-15 largely by setting out existing and planned actions, with a Single Departmental Plan to be published "shortly" and 15% savings to running costs.

  • On strategy for spending reductions, the Single Departmental Plan, based on Defra's strategy to 2020, "will be published shortly" and sets out seven strategic objectives; Defra must achieve a 26% cut in its administration budget by 2019-20.
  • On animal disease research, the government "agrees" that an evidence base based on "sound science" is essential, and says it will invest £130 million capital in Defra's science estates by 2020-21.
  • On bovine TB, the government says it "continues to monitor" the badger control policy, published the first-year impact report in August 2015 and "plans to publish further annual reports". It also says there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach.
  • On broadband, the government says it intends to consult on a new Universal Service Obligation "in early spring 2016", with an ambition to set it at 10Mbps by 2020.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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