Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (A1)
BACKGROUND
1. The GM public debate arose from a recommendation
in the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission's
report "Crops on Trial" in September 2001. The Government
asked the AEBC for advice on how this could best be carried out
and the AEBC provided further advice in April 2002 (Annex A) [Not
Printed].
2. The Secretary of State announced in May
2002 that Government intended to accept the AEBC's recommendations
for a full and informed debate, and that there would also be two
further strands of activity linked to the debate: a study into
the costs and benefits of GM crops, and a review of the science.
The Secretary of State made a further announcement in July 2002
providing additional details about the three strands of the GM
dialogue and announcing that the budget for the debate would be
£250,000, co-funded by the UK Government and the Devolved
Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Annex
B) [Not Printed].
3. Government accepted the AEBC's recommendation
for an independent Steering Board to oversee the public debate.
The Secretary of State invited Professor Malcolm Grant, the AEBC
chair, to chair the Steering Board and to appoint its members,
having regard to the need to maintain diversity and have a balance
of views and perspectives. All members of the Steering Board were
appointed in a personal capacity rather than as representatives
of particular organisations, although Defra's Director of Communications
was also appointed to the Board with particular responsibility
to ensure proper accountability for the expenditure of public
funds.
4. A detailed chronology of the public debate
can be found at Annex C.
FUNDING FOR
THE DEBATE
5. In their advice submitted in April 2002,
the AEBC set out a proposed programme of events for the debate
and indicated that the whole programme would cost "a few
hundred thousand pounds" (see paragraph 46 of the AEBC's
advice at Annex A)[Not Printed]. The Government then asked COI,
the Government's executive agency for communications procurement,
to provide an estimate of the likely costs of such a debate. COI's
own preliminary estimate was that a debate programme could be
delivered for £253,000 (see Annex to COI's advice at Annex
D) [Not Printed]. On the basis of COI's advice, Government assigned
an initial budget of £250,000 for the debate. The funding
comprised contributions from Defra, the Department for Trade and
Industry, and the Devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland.
6. The Steering Board first met in September
2002 and agreed to appoint COI Communications as their prime contractor.
The first two components of the debate programme were completed
by December 2002. These comprised initial desk research and foundation
discussion workshops, designed to allow members of the public
to frame the issues for debate. These results were used in designing
the programme, stimulus content and debate materials to be used
during the main phase of the debate.
7. Professor Grant then wrote to Ministers
on 5 December 2002, on behalf of the Public Debate Steering Board,
asking for additional funding for the debate (copy of letter at
Annex E) [Not Printed]. Professor Grant indicated that the initial
desk research and foundation discussion workshops had already
accounted for £107,000 out of the £250,000 budget. He
argued that an increase in resources for the debate would yield
big dividends in terms of creating a more broad and credible programme
to enable more people to take part, in addition to the "narrow
and deep" components of the debate. He attached a detailed
breakdown of a possible debate programme, including a number of
options, with indicative costs.
8. On receipt of Professor Grant's letter,
Defra's Communications Directorate (CD) asked COI to set out the
rationale for each component of the proposed programme and to
explain in more detail what could be delivered in return for any
additional funding. In the light of these discussions with COI,
Defra's CD concluded that an increase in the debate budget could
be justified, and that doubling the debate budget to £500,000
would be sufficient to achieve the objectives of the debate and
would offer the best value-for-money.
9. Despite the budgetary pressures faced
by Government, and concern at the major discrepancy between the
initial and revised cost estimates, the Secretary of State recommended
to colleagues, and sought their agreement, that the debate budget
should be doubled, and requested further contributions. She then
wrote to Professor Grant on 20 January 2003 offering an additional
£155,000 (Annex F) [Not Printed], which comprised additional
funding from Defra, DTI and Northern Ireland, and indicated that
she was still trying to establish with colleagues whether some
further funding could be made available.
10. Discussions then continued with the
Devolved Administrations in Scotland and Wales with a view to
securing additional contributions from them. They had concerns
about the scope and timing of the debate and were unwilling to
confirm additional contributions until these had been resolved.
They were concerned in particular that the debate should be postponed
until the first set of results from the Farm Scale Evaluations
had been published, and were also concerned about the timing of
the debate in relation to their national elections.
11. In the light of the concerns of the
Devolved Administrations in Scotland and Wales and the associated
uncertainty regarding additional funding, Professor Grant wrote
to the Secretary of State again on 30 January (copy of letter
at Annex G) [Not Printed] 2003 requesting that the timetable for
the debate be extended so that the main public events would run
throughout the UK in May, June and July. The Steering Board would
then submit their report to Ministers in September, rather than
June as originally agreed. The Secretary of State replied on 18
February 2003 (copy of letter at Annex H) [Not Printed] agreeing
to the proposed extension and confirming a doubling of the debate
budget to £500,000. She also indicated that Defra would cover
the cost of COI's management fee (approximately £50,000).
Financial procedures
12. Funds for the public debate were deposited
into a central "holding account" managed by Defra. Although
the Steering Board was responsible for allocating the debate budget,
payments were made by Defra to COI from this central account.
Funds could only be released from this account after:
— the go-ahead for work was given by
the Steering Board
— a cost estimate had been approved
and signed by a nominated official from Defra's Communications
Directorate
— an invoice had been approved and
signed by a nominated official from Defra's Communications Directorate.
PUBLICISING THE
DEBATE
13. The independent Steering Board and COI
were responsible for publicising the debate, though Defra provided
support where possible. The Steering Board was responsible for
deciding how to use the debate budget most cost-effectively. Given
the high cost of advertising, the Steering Board took the view
that it would be more cost-effective to engage the media to publicise
the debate. The Steering Board's Communications Adviser met regularly
with COI and Defra officials to share information and coordinate
activity, with a view to maximising publicity.
14. Defra provided additional support to
the Steering Board by:
— issuing press notices on behalf of
the Steering Board;
— publishing information about the
debate on Defra's website;
— providing contacts through the Government
News Network (GNN) in order to publicise the debate more widely;
— seconding a Defra official to COI
for a period of six weeks in May/June 2003, in order to provide
administrative support during the busiest period;
— funding a GNN regional press officer
to support the Steering Board's Communications Adviser with day-to-day
duties.
15. At the request of the Steering Board,
Defra Ministers also agreed to promote the debate through speeches
at appropriate events. The first of these was given by Michael
Meacher at the Gene Futures Conference "Debating the use
of GM Crops and Foods in the UK" on 11 February. The Secretary
of State also gave the keynote speech at a Green Alliance event
at the Royal Society on 5 June. Copies of the speeches can be
found at www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/ministers/speeches.
September 2003
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