Defra confirms 300m budget cuts

Helen Ghosh, Defra's Permanent Secretary of State confirmed reports of the proposed savings, which were first highlighted in The Guardian newspaper, when she appeared before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee in Westminster, on Wednesday.

Mrs Ghosh had been summonsed by MPs to address concerns following the newspaper article which revealed the proposed cuts. The information had been uncovered in an email sent by Ms Ghosh, which had been leaked to The Guardian.

The permanent secretary outlined £130m of immediate savings and £140m of “more radical” cuts but could not confirm which programmes would be affected but that announcements would be in February.

Mrs Ghosh confirmed to MPs at the committee hearing that she had sent the email but insisted the reduction in funding was not a cut but merely the department's bid to reprioritise its spending plan.

She said Defra had been asked to find additional money for initiatives such as the government's greener homes strategy and so will have to pull the funding required for this from elsewhere.

She explained: “It's just a reprioritising exercise against a new strategy.”

However, committee chairman Michael Jack MP, said while the funding reallocation might boost new programmes, it meant “there would be pain elsewhere” such as with small voluntary organisations.

MPs also expressed concern that Defra would have to make further savings to balance a projected £50m overspend on administration by the end of this financial year. The savings were highlighted by Ms Ghosh, who insisted the department was taking steps to address this through measures including a recruitment freeze.

BREW

One body which has fears over the impact of the cuts is Oxfordshire county council which runs the BREW(Business Resource Efficiency and Waste programme) Centre, on behalf of Defra.

The council was selected by Defra to run the pilot project because of its expertise and offers recycling and resource efficiency services to businesses including free waste reduction workshops and free waste audits.

Councillor Roger Belson, Oxfordshire county council's cabinet member for sustainable development, said: “News of a possible £300 million cut in Government budgets for environmental issues is very sobering and could put the continuation of this good work into question.”