Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown was responding to a new report from spending watchdogs, the NAO (National Audit Office).
It found that Defra, the Environment Agency and Natural England were struggling to deliver on ambitious reforms running to 149 recommendations, while skills shortages, fragmented IT and a lack of a strategic approach were all hampering delivery.
“The importance of investing in the future of British agriculture has never been more important.”
NFU Vice-president Rachel Hallos
With more than 3,000 pieces of legislation to deal with, the NAO found that ‘an overly cautious and risk-averse culture in Defra and the regulators has developed, in part due to the potential for legal challenge’. This, it said had hampered efforts to innovate and embrace new approaches that would produce better outcomes or cut costs.
Practical and flexible
It added that, while Defra was working to improve its IT and had received a further £300m of targeted funding to 2029 in the Spending Review, the pace of change had been slow.
Sir Geoffrey, whose committee the NAO reports to, noted that “Defra does not have a single database or dataset for farms that can be used to share insight on risks across government”.
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Defra and the regulators are working to improve how they regulate, including in response to recent major reviews. Success will depend on taking a sufficiently strategic approach and sticking to the course set.”
Responding, NFU Vice-president Rachel Hallos said that the “government’s environmental regulation and ambitions must go hand-in-hand with policies that support profitable, productive, and resilient farm businesses”.
“Implementation of the regulatory framework must also be practical and flexible, but critically, innovation-led, evidence-based and proportionate to any risks posed, to minimise costs and burdens on our farmers and growers,” she added.
“The importance of investing in the future of British agriculture has never been more important, so the NFU will continue to work with Defra and its bodies to improve the regulatory landscape.”
