Policy

UK Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman yesterday confirmed that funding to the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) will be cut and the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) is to be axed completely.

As part of the Coalition Government’s public spending cuts, the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) plans to reform 30 of its 90 ‘arm’s length’ bodies.

The reforms will make Defra a “leaner, stronger department” with a “renewed and clearer focus on its key priorities and a simplified structure”, said a statement.

Spelman said that all departments had to make efficiency savings but that Defra remained committed to supporting the Government is its aim of being the greenest ever.

“Together with Chris Huhne I am determined to play the lead role in driving the sustainability agenda across the whole of government and I am not willing to delegate this responsibility to an external body,” she said.

Instead, she said Defra would work with the SDC’s partners, businesses, local communities and universities on sustainable development.

“The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee will provide powerful democratic scrutiny of Government’s work in this area,” she added.

However, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee chair Joan Walley MP has written to Spelman questioning the Department’s plans.

“These two organisations play an essential role in furthering sustainable development and environmental protection across government,” she says.

Walley adds that the Government has provided no detail on what mechanisms will maintain the functions of SDC and RCEP or what additional resources will be allocated to Defra to pursue sustainable development.

“It is difficult to assess the full implications of these cuts or how they might help or hinder the delivery of the Prime Minister’s ambition for this to be ‘the greenest government ever’,” she warns.

For further information:
ww2.defra.gov.uk/
www.sd-commission.org.uk/
www.rcep.org.uk/
www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-archive/environmental-audit-committee/

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UK’s Sustainable Development Commission calls for action, but faces axe (22-Jul)
UK must protect low-carbon funding, says advisory committee (20-Jul)
UK Government to cut low-carbon programmes by £34 million (19-Jul)
New UK Prime Minister promises “greenest government ever” (17-May)