Thérèse Coffey joins Defra as Stewart goes

The departure of Mr Stewart from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs coincides with the reshuffle of the Cabinet and ministers in the wake of Theresa May becoming prime minister on 4 July 2016.

To fill the ‘junior minister’ vacancy left by Mr Stewart, Mrs May has appointed Dr Thérèse Coffey as parliamentary under secretary of state but it has not been confirmed whether she will have the waste brief.

Deputy leader

Dr Coffey was previously the deputy leader of the House of Commons serving under Chris Grayling and served on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee until she was appointed parliamentary private secretary to Michael Fallon, minister for business and energy. Mr Fallon had responsibility for the WEEE directive which is now overseen by Defra.

Confirmed staying at Defra are minister George Eustice and Lord John Gardiner of Kimble as parliamentary under secretary state (junior minister).

Mr Stewart served just 14 months in the post as resources and recycling minister since he took up the position after the General Election in May 2015. During that time he had consistently asked for help from the waste management industry for ideas in drawing up a waste policy and had lamented the fact that he had little budget and a reduced number of officials.

One achievement was to carry forward work on tackling waste crime. But, it remains unclear whether his cause celebre of trying to get councils to reduce the number of collection systems will still be launched this week.

Consistency launch

On Wednesday (20 July) Mr Stewart and Marcus Gover, chief executive of WRAP, were due to come together to publish guidance to councils along with details of funding for some trials of streamlined and coordinated collection systems. WRAP has been developing an approach which could overhaul local authorities’ approach to waste management with a list of a few collection, bin and material options. The charity said in February this year that the consistency work offers “the potential to rationalise collections around three main systems; a move which would also offer an opportunity to standardise collection containers used, subject to accommodating different housing types.”

Liverpool

In terms of who will take up the waste brief, it appears most likely to be fielded by Dr Coffey. However, Andrea Leadsom, the new secretary of state for the environment and a leader of the “Brexit” campaign may take a few days to decide the ministerial briefs within her department.

Dr Coffey is MP for Suffolk Coastal but grew up in the north west of England. After graduating with a PhD in chemistry, she joined the international company Mars. She qualified as a chartered management accountant and became finance director of a Mars division and has also worked at the BBC. She is an avid Liverpool football supporter, and, according to her website is a CAMRA member and enjoy gardening and music, especially Muse.

Among her political areas of interest have been flooding, rural affairs and Sizewell power station. Dr Coffey was a supporter of the “Remain” in the EU campaign.