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Plans To Substantially Reform The Environment Agency

15 October 2010

As part of the Government review of public bodies, revealed on 14 October 2010, it has been announced that there are plans to "substantially reform" the Environment Agency. The Cabinet Office said that the organisation would be subject to "reform through structural, process and cultural change to become a more efficient and customer focused organisation; and clarify accountabilities." It also revealed that further announcements would be made following the October 20 Spending Review, and that the Environment Agency in Wales may move to form part of the Welsh Assembly's environmental body.

Defra's public body announcement stated that it had been "working closely with its largest environmental arm's length bodies - the Environment Agency and Natural England - to ensure a radical and comprehensive package of measures which will transform them into leaner, more efficient front line delivery bodies."

The Defra statement outlined that it would "drastically reduce [the Environment Agency and Natural England's] back room costs" and work "more closely with other arm's length bodies to eliminate any dupliction in the work they carry out." Details of other intentions to "implement demonstrable culture change" and to stop both "activity that the Government does not need to do" and "policy making and lobbying" were also included.

The Cabinet Office announcement did not include WRAP, which is not a non departmental public body, in its statement, but did announce that the Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and the Advisory Committee on Packaging will be reconstituted as panels of experts. In total 53 of the 85 bodies that are run by Defra and under the scope of the review will no longer be non-departmental public bodies. 23 have been retained, 3 are subject to substantial reform and six are still "under consideration."

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said: "Defra's current delivery network contains over 90 arm's-length bodies and there have been difficult decisions to make in order to achieve the best value for money in this challenging economic climate. The announcement confirms that the number of Defra's arm's length bodies will reduce by over half.

"But the changes announced today also reflect the government's view that it should only carry out those functions which only government can do, while harnessing the power of civil society and the private sector to help deliver Defra's objectives."