Defra's departmental plan details its policy priorities for 2015-2020. But what does it include? Jessica Sellick takes a look.

The departmental plan published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) details its policy priorities for 2015-2020. But what does that mean for rural communities? Jessica Sellick investigates.

Single Departmental Plans (SDPs) describe the objectives of the Government over the current parliament and how each department is fulfilling these commitments. SDPs contain information about the delivery of core departmental responsibilities, actions to improve their efficiency and transform the way in which they work, and cross-cutting issues where they need to work together with other departments.

Each Government department has to write its own plan - and have it agreed with the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury to ensure it reflects Government priorities and can be delivered within budget. SDPs are intended to improve the way in which Government monitors its performance and allow the public to track progress against key outcomes. In February 2016, 17 departments, including Defra, published SDPs.

Defra’s SDP sets out how it will spend its £2 billion 2015/16 budget. It includes the department’s vision, namely how Defra “plays a critical role in Britain’s current and future prosperity and the wellbeing of everyone in the country."

It says: "Our purpose is to unleash the economic potential of food and farming, nature and the countryside, champion the environment and provide security against floods, animal and plant diseases and other hazards. Defra will meet its commitments by opening up data, using data better as a department, and better domestic regulation. We will help to boost UK productivity and extend opportunity.”

The SDP is organised under the department’s six objectives - with what Defra is doing and howDefra is doing explained for each. The six objectives are:

1. 
   

   A cleaner, healthier environment, benefitting people and the economy.

   
   


2. 
   

   A world-leading food and farming industry.

   
   


3. 
   

   A thriving rural economy, contributing to national prosperity and wellbeing.

   
   


4. 
   

   A nation better-protected against floods, animal and plant diseases and other hazards, with strong response and recovery capabilities.

   
   


5. 
   

   Excellent delivery on time and to budget with outstanding value for money.

   
   


6. 
   

   Delivering efficiently: an organisation continually striving to be the best, focussed on outcomes and constantly challenging itself.

   
   

For each objective the SDP names a lead minister and a lead official/s.

The SDP includes three specific references to ‘communities’:

(i) under objective 1 – a cleaner healthier environment – it will ‘develop new approaches for tackling waste crime, including using £20 million from reform of the Landfill Communities Fund’.

(ii) Under objective 2 – a world-leading food and farming industry – Defra will ‘implement the Common Fisheries Policy reforms, devolving the management of North Sea Fisheries to those in the region, including local communities’.

(iii) Under objective 4 – providing security against natural threats and hazards - to contribute ‘over £200 million of Government funding to help those affected by the floods in winter 2015 to 2016 to support the recovery and repair of the affected communities’.

Under objective 3 – a thriving rural economy, Defra describes how “England’s rural areas are of huge importance to us, contributing substantially to the economy, wellbeing and national life”. Defra wants to help rural areas to prosper and contribute to national prosperity; ensure people in towns, villages and hamlets have access to the same technology as those in cities; and to promote rural policy across Government to give a stronger voice to countryside issues.

Defra is aiming to do this through the Government’s 10-point plan for boosting productivity, published by Defra and HM Treasury in August 2015. Many of the targets set under this objective are being delivered by other departments: broadband of at least 24Mbps to 95% of UK households and businesses by 2017 (DCMS lead), expanded apprenticeships (BIS lead), more housing (DCLG lead) and increasing the availability of affordable childcare (DfE lead).

SDP data on how Defra is doing includes indicators to measure the average exposure to pollutants across the population; Gross Value Added (GVA) per workforce job at £44,500 in 2014; and 12,900 households better protected by December 2015 from flooding or coastal erosion.

Priorities Defra intends to measure include: how many kilometres of fresh waters are enhanced each year in England; the number of trees planted assuming an average of 1,100 tree stems per hectare; and the extent of protected areas at sea.

The SDP also tell us what’s in train. For example: Defra will publish a framework and 25-year plan for action on the environment in spring 2016 and extend the life of the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) to at least 2020. Defra is working with industry to grow more and sell more British food at home and abroad; including setting up a Great British Food Unit and trebling the number of food and farming apprenticeships to 18,000 in England by 2020. Defra is seeking to better protect over 300,000 homes and more than one million acres of prime farmland from the risk of flooding or coastal erosion by 2021; and has established the National Flood Resilience Review to consider forecasting, modelling and key infrastructure alongside longer term flood defence strategy. Defra will also be publishing a report on its progress in reducing regulatory burdens to business in summer 2016.

SDPs are supposed to be revised annually – normally each April – to reflect new data, provide written updates on performance and/or revised budget. But since Defra’s was published three developments have taken place which may shape its future development.

Firstly, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee published a special report on 8 March 2016.querying whether the planned 15% cuts to Defra’s budget would impact on the department’s operational efficiency. The Committee asked Defra to clarify its strategy for determining which policies and priorities will be altered by repeated spending reductions. In response, Defra outlined how it has secured £2.7 billion to invest in capital, 12% more than in the previous five years and will make 15% savings to its running costs.

Defra sets out this capital investment in relation to flood protection and defence maintenance, animal and plant disease prevention (Bovine TB), the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and upgrading bio-containment facilities. The Committee also called upon Defra to ensure rural issues are addressed robustly by a number of Government departments – querying what mechanisms a small department such as Defra can implement to make sure rural issues are taken account of.

In its response, Defra referenced its response to Lord Cameron’s review of rural proofing as well as plans to establish a Cabinet Office led rural proofing oversight; create an online evidence hub for rural proofing practitioners; roll out a training programme for departments including advice on the urban/rural classification; and create a new ‘rural ambassador’ role operating across departments.

Secondly, the EFRA Select Committee highlighted how Defra scores below the civil service average for staff engagement and on staff views of leadership. Defra is currently recruiting seven deputy directors– five of these vacancies are within policy areas and two vacancies where the initial focus will be on modernising Defra and the way it works within two key transformation projects: arms’ length body transformation and evidence transformation.

Once complete, the two deputy directors will then be assigned to a permanent policy role within Defra. The posts are Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1: £62,000-£117,800. None of the policy roles focuses specifically on rural communities – the five areas are regulation, Great British Food Unit, Food and Farming Strategy, floods/other emergencies and water services.

Thirdly, what impact will Budget 2016 have on Defra? The chancellor’s announcement of an additional £700 million to spend on flood defence and resilience will help Defra as it identified a black hole of £600 million in its flood defence spending in 2015. The Chancellor announced £60 million to enable community-led housing developments in rural and coastal communities, including through Community Land Trusts, where the impact of second homes is particularly acute (with £20 million of this funding earmarked for the South West). The Chancellor also revealed agreements had been reached to create combined authorities headed up by elected mayors for East Anglia, the West of England and Greater Lincolnshire.

Where next then for rural communities in Defra’s SDP and Government policy?

Amid these documents and announcements it is not always clear where rural communities fit. Are key issues affecting rural communities reflected in these policy drivers and objectives? In terms of the implementation of policy, which priorities can realistically be driven by Defra and which ones need follow-through from other Government departments?

While the SDP with its vision, objectives and data speaks to transparency; if the Government wants the public to assess the effects of its policies and reforms, how can we ensure rural communities inform their development?

With Budget 2016 Defra will not be alone in relooking at where/how it spends its money. Asked for savings of at least 15% will undoubtedly present challenges for rural people and places: will future cuts lead to rurally considered policies and championing or centralised policies imposed from Whitehall? At local government levels, while Government has decided not to impose further cuts on Councils in the short term, how will the Government decide where the new £3.5 billion of savings will fall in 2019-2020? And what impact might further funding cuts have on rural communities?

Are we seeing a positive agenda for rural communities emerging from Government or a failure to focus on issues of critical importance for those of us living and working in rural England?

Jessica is a researcher/project manager at Rose Regeneration; an economic development business working with communities, Government and business to help them achieve their full potential.

She is currently preparing an economic baseline for a Local Authority; supporting the Big Lottery Fund to deliver Village SOS; involved in projects to help older people remain independent and in their homes for as long as possible; and completing a European project on ‘social value’.

Jessica’s public services work includes research for Defra on alternative service delivery and local level rural proofing. She can be contacted by email[email protected] or telephone 01522 521211. Website:http://www.roseregeneration.co.uk/ Twitter: @RoseRegen