The Department said that Minister Jo Churchill is ‘overseeing the waste and regulated industries areas’. She joined Defra on 16 September from the Department for Health as part of the recent ministerial reshuffle. Defra’s number of ministers were boosted with the former team staying in post.
More detail is expected to follow, and with Rebecca Pow MP still with the Department it is thought that her brief still encompasses the Environment Bill which has provisions for packaging and collection changes. Clarification of this is expected soon.
Mrs Churchill is a former Lincolnshire county councillor with experience of the private sector and is MP for Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. She has been a member of the Environmental Audit Committee.
Ministerial line-up
In the reshuffle, Victoria Prentis was promoted to Minister of State. The full line up of Defra ministers is as follows:
- Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Rt Hon George Eustice MP
- Minister of State – Victoria Prentis MP
- Minister of State – Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)*
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Rebecca Pow MP
- Parliamentary Under Secertary of State – Jo Churchill MP
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Rt Hon Lord Benyon
On Twitter Mrs Churchill said how pleased she was to take on the Defra position.
(Image from Twitter)
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