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Ministerial Portfolios at Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

   

INFORMATION BULLETIN

Ref: 328/08
Date: 9 October 2008

"Updated 3 December 2008"

Defra has today confirmed the responsibilities of its new Ministerial team. 

Hilary Benn continues as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and is joined by three new Ministers.

Jane Kennedy joins the department as Minister for Farming and the Environment,  Phil Hunt  joins as Minister for Sustainable Development, Climate Change Adaptation and Air Quality, and Huw Irranca-Davies joins as Minister for the Natural and Marine Environment, Wildlife and Rural Affairs.

Hilary Benn said:

“I am delighted to welcome the new team to Defra and I look forward to working with them on all the challenges that lie ahead, from food production and supporting a thriving farming sector, to tackling waste and improving our natural environment.”

Notes to editors

1. Jane Kennedy joins Defra from the Treasury where she was Financial Secretary since June 2007.   She was previously a Minister of State in the Department of Health (2005-06), Department of Work and Pensions (2004-05) and Northern Ireland Office (2001-2004) and Parliamentary Secretary in the Lord Chancellor’s Department (1999-2001).  She has also served as a Government Whip (1998-99) and was a member of the Administration Select Committee (1997-99).  Earlier in her career Jane Kennedy was residential child care officer and care assistant at Liverpool City Council.

2. Phil Hunt joins the department from the Ministry of Justice where he was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State since June 2007.  He is also Deputy Leader of the House of Lords.  He previously served as a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health.  He was raised to the peerage as Baron Hunt of Kings Heath, of Birmingham in the County of West Midlands 1997.  Phil Hunt has also been appointed Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

3. Huw Irranca-Davies joins Defra from the Wales Office where he has been Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales since June 2007.  He has sat on the Procedures Select Committee, Standing Committee for the Police Reform Bill, Fireworks Bill and Communications Bill amongst others.  He has also served as a Government Whip (June 2006-June 2007) and was previously a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Department of Work and Pensions, Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Northern Ireland Office.  He has sat on the Welsh Grand Committee and the Northern Ireland Grand Committee.  In his early career Huw Irranca-Davies worked for local authorities in leisure management and he later worked in private sector management and as a lecturer at Swansea Institute of Higher Education

The full portfolios are as follows:

Jane Kennedy: Minister for Farming and the Environment
  • Farming for the future programme
  • Rural Payments Agency
  • Food chain programme, stakeholder engagement and delivery
  • Animal welfare programme
  • Exotic animal disease policy programme and emergency response capability
  • Bovine TB programme
  • Endemic animal disease
  • Veterinary policy
  • Animal Health
  • CAP reform and EU strategy programmes, evidence and knowledge base
  • Responsibility and Cost Sharing Programme
  • Waste and recycling
  • Environment Agency
  • Minister for the Horse
  • Commons handling of sustainable development, Sustainable Development Commission, sustainable consumption and production
Phil Hunt (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Minister for Sustainable Development, Climate Change Adaptation and Air Quality
  • Sustainable development
  • Sustainable Development Commission
  • Sustainable consumption and production
  • Domestic climate change adaptation
  • Local and regional government, air quality, local environment quality (including noise)
  • Environmental regulation
  • Sponsorship of Kew Gardens
  • Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
  • Marine Bill Lords stages
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister for the Natural and Marine Environment, Wildlife and Rural Affairs
  • Marine environment and Marine Bill
  • Fisheries
  • Rural affairs
  • Rural development programme for England (RDPE)
  • Natural environment policy
  • Natural England
  • Land management
  • National parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty
  • Coastal and wider access, countryside & rights of way
  • Inland Waterways and British Waterways
  • Sustainable rural communities
  • Commission for Rural Communities
  • Biodiversity
  • Ecosystem services
  • Forestry
  • Flooding
  • Water (including Nitrates Directive)
  • Coastal erosion
  • Soil
  • GMOs/nanotechnology
  • Chemicals and pesticides
  • Departmental administration
  • Better regulation
  • Commons handling of domestic climate change adaptation, environmental regulation, sponsorship of Kew Gardens

 

End

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Page modified: 3 December 2008
Page published: 7 October 2008