Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs
Department overview


Formed	2001
Preceding agencies	Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Jurisdiction	United Kingdom
Headquarters	Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London 51°29′44″N 0°07′34″W / 51.49556°N 0.12611°W / 51.49556; -0.12611
Annual budget	£2.2 billion (current) & £400 million (capital) for 2011-12
Minister responsible	Andrea Leadsom, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department executive	Clare Moriarty, Permanent Secretary
Child agencies	Animal and Plant Health Agency Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Rural Payments Agency Veterinary Medicines Directorate
Website	www.gov.uk/defra

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for co-operation between it and the Scottish Government,Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations. Defra also leads for Britain at the EU on agricultural, fisheries and environment matters and in other international negotiations on sustainable development and climate change, although a new Department of Energy and Climate Change was created on 3 October 2008 to take over the last responsibility.

It was formed in June 2001 under the leadership of Margaret Beckett, when the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was merged with part of the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and with a small part of the Home Office. The department was created after the perceived failure of MAFF to deal adequately with an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. The Department had about 9,000 core personnel, as of January 2008^[update]. The Department's main building is Nobel House on Smith Square, SW1.