1st Special Report - Defra performance in 2014-15: Government Response to the Committee's First Report of Session 2015-16

This is the government's response, published 8 March 2016.

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