| Summary
Our report provides an overview of the performance of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), as reviewed in Defra's Departmental Report 2005. It is one of a sequence of reports into Defra's Departmental Annual Reports.
Overall, the Department has made progress this year. We welcome the improvements made by senior managers to increase integration across the Department, particularly at senior grade level, and recommend Defra now focuses particularly on improving integration at junior grade level. We are also pleased at the progress Defra has made in the past year in increasing its influence across Whitehall. In particular, we consider the sustainable delivery action plans, which other Government departments are obliged to produce by December 2005, to be a significant development, and urge Defra to ensure that performance against the targets set out in the action plans is monitored vigorously. We agree with the Permanent Secretary, however, that Defra "can never have enough clout" in this area.
We are still concerned at Defra's performance in achieving some of its Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets. In particular, we are extremely disappointed that Defra has still not been able to assess progress against its PSA target relating to rural affairs, which went 'live' on 1 April 2003. We recommend the Department start to think now—in advance of the 2007 Spending Review—of a more appropriate PSA target relating to rural affairs. It should ensure that the baseline of, and progress made in achieving, any new target can be measured appropriately.
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