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Independent Science Review of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Defra publications — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:11:33 +0000

Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser commissioned an independent expert science review of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2011. This assessment of the quality, balance, scope and appropriateness of the scientific programmes at RBG Kew is part of the Chief Scientific Adviser’s role in ensuring that Defra’s evidence is of a high quality.

The review was chaired by Professor Georgina Mace, Imperial College, and the panel’s report was published in June 2012. The review concluded that Kew’s work in plant discovery and description is of world class quality and of great global significance, and that RBG Kew is highly regarded as an international botanic collection and research facility.

The review identified areas where RBG Kew faces challenges going forward over the next five years and made a number of constructive recommendations relating to the quality of RBG Kew’s science, its research programmes, resources, evaluation of activities and science strategy.

RBG Kew published its response to the science review panel report in June 2012. Defra continues working with RBG Kew to help them implement their response to maximise the value of Kew’s important scientific work.

Response to the science review panel report (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew website)

Further information

Quality assuring evidence

The Government’s Response to Sir Michael Pitt’s Review of the summer 2007 Floods

Defra publications — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:53:45 +0000

A year on from the Government’s response to Sir Michael Pitt’s review into the 2007 summer floods, this is the second Government progress report showing what action has been taken to ensure we are better placed to predict, prepare for, deal with and recover from the unique challenges posed by flooding events.

Further information

Flooding

Government response to the Making Space for Nature review

Defra publications — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 08:31:04 +0000

Chaired by Professor Sir John Lawton, the independent review of England’s wildlife sites and ecological network considered whether England’s collection of wildlife areas represented a coherent and robust ecological network that would be capable of responding to the challenges of climate change and other pressures. Published in September 2010, the Making Space for Nature (PDF) review summarised what needed to be done in four words: more, bigger, better and joined, and set out some guiding principles and 24 recommendations. Government’s broad response to the review is set out in the Natural Environment White Paper. For further information, we have also set out below a specific response to each of the recommendations.

The Government’s Response to Sir Michael Pitt’s Review of the Summer 2007 Floods

Defra publications — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:10:36 +0000

Widespread and serious flooding affected many parts of England during June and July 2007.

An independent review of the 2007 flooding, led by Sir Michael Pitt, looked at its causes and subsequent management to see what lessons needed to be learned about how to manage and respond to this type of event in the future. Sir Michael’s final report was published on 25 June 2008.

The Secretary of State published the Government’s response to Sir Michael’s Review of the 2007 Summer Floods on the 17 December 2008. It sets out a clear action plan to deliver against the challenging agenda identified by Sir Michael.

Over £60 million will be invested in taking forward the priorities identified in Sir Michael’s report; £34.5 million of funding set aside specifically for the action plan together with a further £27 million of funding identified within other relevant budgets.

Further information

Flooding

The Independent Review of Charging for Household Water and Sewerage Services

Defra publications — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:52:43 +0000

The Independent Review of Charging for Household Water and Sewerage Services, led by Anna Walker, published its final report on 8 December 2009.

The aim of the Review was to:

examine the current system of charging households for water and sewerage services; and assess the effectiveness and fairness of current and alternative methods of charging including the issue of affordability;
consider social, economic and environmental concerns; and
make recommendations on any action that should be taken to ensure that England and Wales have a sustainable and fair system of charging in place. This could include changes to current legislation and guidance

Further information

Sewage
Water