Lord de Mauley named as new recycling minister

Defra has ended speculation about the identity of the new recycling minister, naming Lord de Mauley as the successor to former minister Lord Taylor of Holbeach today (September 18).

The position at Defra represents the first ministerial post for Rupert Ponsonby, the 7th Baron de Mauley, although he served as shadow minister for children, schools & families and energy & climate change while in opposition.

His responsibilities at minister will cover a number of issues outside of waste management including climate change adaption, sustainable consumption, air quality and environmental science.

Lord de Mauley entered the House of Lords in 2002, and was the first peer to obtain an elective hereditaries seat in the house, after winning a Conservative hereditary peers election in 2005.

Background

He was appointed as an opposition whip in 2009, carrying out the role until the election of the coalition government in 2010. He has acted as a government whip in the Lords since 2010, as well as acting as spokesman for environment, food and rural affairs issues during that time.

Educated at Eton, Lord de Mauleys family has a farming background, and he served in the Territorial Army between 1976 and 2005, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 2003. His entry in the House register of members interests includes farmland and property in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Response

The minister was welcomed into his new role by the chief executive of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), Steve Lee, who said: “Ours is an industry reflecting environmental awareness and responsibility as well as a real green growth opportunity for UK experience and expertise at home and through exports.

“Waste needs to be managed as part of an economic development opportunity – as well as a vital service protecting local national and global environmental quality. We will be looking for early opportunities to understand the minister’s priorities and to further the development of our industry.”

Also commenting on the appointment, Barry Dennis, director general of the waste industry trade body Environmental Services Association (ESA), said: ESA had a good relationship with Lord de Mauleys predecessor, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, and we will be looking forward to working with the new waste minister.

“We hope Lord de Mauley will be given enough time in the role to make real contribution to our collective efforts to create a resource efficient society.

Resource Association chief executive Ray Georgeson welcomed Lord de Mauley into the recycling sector, and said he hoped that the minister will focus on material quality as a priority.

He said: We were sorry to see Lord Taylor leave after such a short time in office, and look forward to welcoming Lord de Mauley to his new brief in government. When he has a chance to sift through his in-tray, we hope that he will make material quality and support for UK reprocessors making quality recycled products top of his agenda.

Reshuffle

Lord Taylor, who was waste minister since September 2011, was moved to a new post in the Home Office amid a raft of front bench changes by Prime Minister David Cameron (see letsrecycle.com story).

Some within the sector had expressed disappointment at seeing Lord Taylor leave the post as he had a good knowledge of the sector due to his former role as chair of the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group.

The ministerial changes also saw Charles Davey replaced as energy minister at the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), as well as the appointment of Baroness Verma to the department.

Local government minister Bob Neill, who had been given responsibility for planning in the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and had worked closely with the waste sector, was also moved on as part of the reshuffle, returning to the backbenches to be replaced by the Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford, Nick Boles.

Lord de Mauleys full portfolio at Defra will be:

• Climate change adaptation
• Environmental impacts of climate change mitigation (including biofuels)
• Environmental regulation (including deputising for the Secretary of State at EU Environment Council)
• Sustainable consumption and production
• Waste management
• Air quality
• Noise and litter
• Welfare of companion and wild animals (including circuses, dangerous dogs and zoos)
• Localism and civil society
• Environmental science
• Nanotechnology
• Pesticides, chemicals and industrial pollution
• Genetically modified organisms
• Plant and bee health
• Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
• Food and Environment Research Agency