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Byline: Ian Quinn Henry Dimbleby's appointment as the UK's food tsar four years ago was described by then Defra secretary Michael Gove as a 'once in a generation opportunity' to [...]

Elliot Morley is not a household name, which is a problem for more than just him. The new environment minister has taken over from one of the few champions of [...]

New British Prime Minister David Cameron chose Caroline Spelman as his agriculture minister last Tuesday, naming her to the post of secretary of state for the Department of Environment, Food [...]

Top civil servants have defended Accenture after it helped to deliver a "fundamentally flawed" [pounds sterling]350m IT system to pay EU subsidies to farmers. Helen Ghosh, permanent secretary at the […]

MPs have re-elected Neil Parish as chairman of the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. The Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, who is a former dairy farmer, saw [...]

New shadow Defra secretary: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has appointed his third shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary in less than three years. Workington MP Sue Hayman was appointed [...]

Fulcrum licensed Fulcrum Pipelines, a subsidiary of National Grid-owned utility connections business Fulcrum, has been granted a gas transporter licence by Ofgem. Utilities drive growth Sewerage, electricity and harbours are [...]

British Energy chairman Adrian Montague received a knighthood for services to the nuclear and electricity industry in the New Year Honours list, leading a total ten utility industry people given [...]

A new permanent secretary has been appointed at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Helen Ghosh joins Defra from HM Revenue and Customs, where she was director [...]

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has become the first Whitehall department to provide customised management training to staff at their computers. This means its 8,000 staff [...]

The UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has announced the appointment of three new members for the Council of Food from Britain, the country's food promotion agency. The [...]

* With the countdown to the general election on, Helen Gregory interviewed the men who hope to run MAFF. Nick Brown has the head start A relaxed and affable Nick [...]

MAFF minister Joyce Quin this week praised the grocery sector for its 'excellent distribution skills' which kept food supplies moving during the fuel blockades. But speaking at the IGD's annual [...]

Helene Hayman has been appointed Minister of State for Agriculture. She will hold specific responsibility within the department for food safety; food standards; meat hygiene; animal health; pesticide safety; veterinary [...]

The UK government will invest 20 million pounds sterling to develop vaccines against bovine tuberculosis (bTB), according to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Hilary Benn. Cattle and badger culling is not part of the bTB control measures, which received opposing opinions from farmers' groups and wildlife organizations.

Secretary Hilary Benn of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that the Common Agricultural Policy's Health Check plans could bring benefits to British farmers. He believes the plans offer prospect for changes in European agricultural policy that could aid farmers in being more competitive and help the sector address environmental issues better.

Defra minister Margaret Beckett and EU commissioner for trade Peter Mandelson waded into the debate on the grocery market as the industry awaits a decision from the Office of Fair [...]

On July 9, 2003, I chaired the final meeting of the Water Regulations Advisory Committee of Defra--the U.K. Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I had taken up [...]

Owen Paterson's successor Liz Truss, can look forward to a potentially challenging tenure at Defra. Truss has said she is keen to tackle 'the important issues facing our rural communities', [...]

United Kingdom Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has been attempting to talk to a wide range of representatives from the farming and retailing industries. He is supportive of improving food safety and is hopeful new legislation will be passed in 1999. Brown is working hard to have the export ban on British beef removed by the end of 1998. Many farmers are objecting to the supermarkets charging high prices for their goods yet paying farmers low prices. Brown spoke at a National Farmers Union meeting to 8,000 vociferous farmers., Agriculture Minister Nick Brown is planning a new initiative to ensure UK food marketing is 'much more inclusively designed, from plough to plate'. Amid mounting attacks from farmers that MAFF [...]

After last year's surprise sacking of Jim Paice as food and farming mister (and the somewhat less surprising removal of Caroline Spelman from the post of secretary of state), Noble [...]

A leading food safety expert from Queen's University, Belfast, has been appointed by Defra to head up a year-long review of the UK's food system in light of the horsemeat [...]

The UK ministry of agriculture, fisheries and food is likely to see significant changes under Jack Cunningham, who has been appointed to head the ministry. He hopes to introduce a new era of openness in the ministry's dealings with the outside world, and may even go as far as to change its name. He believes that the new Labour government can work effectively with the European Union, and will work hard to obtain a deal on lifting the ban on UK beef exports., Gordon Brown hit the ground running, but Jack Cunningham is right in his slipstream. If he achieves what he set out to achieve in his first press conference as Minister [...]

Defra has appointed John Godfrey CBE as the new chairman of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, replacing John Bridge. One of the founders of the National Pig Association and [...]

Caroline Spelman MP has been appointed the UK's Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by Prime Minister David Cameron. She says: 'I am delighted to have been [...]

He thinks retailing is fun, lethally competitive and that UK operators are the best in the world. Nicholas Soames, Parliamentary Secretary at MAFF, talks to Tracy Forrest about the job [...]

New Defra minister Jim Fitzpatrick will have big shoes to fill after the resignation of the popular Jane Kennedy last week. Kennedy, who had only been in the role since [...]

Irate bottled water producers have called on Defra minister Phil Woolas to retract a claim that bottled water is 'daft'. The comment was made in an interview for an episode [...]

Bob Andrew retired from Defra on August 31 after 40 years in the Civil Service. Mr Andrew was a key figure in shaping the government's timber procurement policy and in [...]

Defra secretary of state David Miliband has backed away from hints a flatulence tax on farm animals could help control greenhouse gas emissions. Improvements in diet and genetics are being [...]

Defra will name the chairmen that will make up the UK Levy Board next month, industry sources believe. Front runners will be the current chairmen of the existing levy bodies--which [...]

A government initiative to educate youngsters on how food is produced was launched this week by Defra secretary of state David Miliband. The Year of Food and Farming will involve [...]

As the Government turns up the heat on environmental issues, the Food and Drink Federation has named Callton Young as its new director of sustainability and competitiveness. Young, who takes [...]

I'VE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE. JOHN PRESCOTT HAS BEEN removed from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and his former department has been renamed the Department for Communities and [...]

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has reappointed Vince Craig as a member of the Food from Britain Council for a further three years. Craig currently heads the [...]

Yasmin Diamond has been appointed Director of Communications at DEFRA, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She joins from the Department for Education and Skills, where she was [...]

Ben Bradshaw MP has been appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary (Commons) at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) (Tel: 08459 335577). Ben comes to Defra from the Privy [...]

Lord Whitty was hailed as 'a wonderful minister' after surviving a shakeup at DEFRA this week. BRC food policy director Richard Ali said he was relieved Whitty remained minister for [...]