With a larger proportion of its monies to go on flood defence works, Defras ability to support work related to waste and recycling looks set to diminish.
Public sector workers pay will be hit under the proposals with the Chancellor saying he aims to stop automatic pay rises for time served as well as limiting pay rises in 2014-15 to 1%: “Public sector pay awards will be limited to an average of up to 1% in 2015-16, saving at least 1.3 billion.”
Public sector pay awards will be limited to an average of up to 1 per cent in 2015-16
Chancellor George Osborne
Mr Osborne said: The Department for Environment and Rural Affairs will see a 10% reduction but we will set out plans for a major commitment to new flood defences for the rest of this decade. Again, prioritising long term capital through day-to-day cost savings exactly the tough choice Britain should be making.
And, Defra arms length bodies, which is expected to include the Waste & Resources Action Programme, also face financial cuts. In the spending round statement, the Chancellor said there will be: a focus on greater efficiency through coordination across the Departments ALBs, reducing fines payable to the EU for disallowance, and prioritising spending on economically high-value areas.
WRAP is expected to be forced to seek commissions from other bodies, even from overseas international organisations, as well as from the private sector to help maintain its workload.
Local government
The Defra settlement represents one of the worst in terms of departmental agreements with the Treasury although the Department for Communities and Local Governments local government activities have suffered a similar fate. However, the Chancellor explained that while there was a reduction of 10% for local government, this would actually only be 2%.
He said: We have to ask local government for the kind of sacrifices central government is making. The local government resource budget will be reduced by 10% in 2015-16, but when all the changes affecting local government I will set out are taken into account – including local income and other central government funding local government spending reduces by around 2%.
Agency
The Environment Agency also looks set to lose out on funding support with the Chancellor revealing that there will be a 5% real cost reduction for most regulators. The waste management industry had been pressing for expenditure to be maintained for tackling waste crime but this is expected to be hard to maintain.
The Chancellor explained the regulator cuts, saying: The government is also taking action to ensure that public sector regulation does not hamper private sector investment and growth through the One-In, Two-Out rule for new regulation, and the Red Tape Challenge. To continue this programme of reforms and drive greater competition, the Government has agreed with the regulators a 78 million cut in costs in 2015-16, at least a 5% real terms reduction for most regulators. Where costs are funded by fees, this will leave businesses with more money to invest or hire employees.
Deficit
Overall, Mr Osborne said that the government will reduce current spending by 11.5 billion in 2015-16, allowing it to increase capital spending plans by 3 billion a year from 2015-16 and by 18 billion over the next Parliament. This will boost investment in infrastructure to support economic growth at the same time as ensuring a sustained reduction in the deficit.
Some of Defras money will be going towards tackling climate change overseas. On this, the spending round statement noted: The government will maintain its effort on urgent action to tackle climate change by supporting low-carbon growth and adaptation in developing countries. The UKs pool of money for climate change projects in developing countries will be increased to 969 million, funded by DFID, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
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