Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
UPDATE ON
DEVELOPMENTS SINCE
THE STUDY
BY THE
NATIONAL AUDIT
OFFICE
RECOMMENDATIONS
(i) Develop a more systematic approach to
engaging stakeholders
— The development of a stakeholder
engagement strategy is an integral part of the Programme and Project
Management (PPM) methodology used for policy development across
the Department.
— A shared database is being developed
to improve the way Defra manages its stakeholder relations and
is an important part of Defra's Stakeholder Relations Programme.
With secure access through the Department's internal intranet,
this web-based solution allows stakeholder data to be collected
and managed within business areas. The database is currently being
piloted with a number of business areas and is scheduled to be
rolled out across Defra shortly. Informal feedback from stakeholders
to date has been positive.
The benefits of a shared stakeholder database
are:
— Provides quality-assured, up to date
contact details for stakeholders.
— Ensures a consistent, joined up approach
to stakeholder interaction and information management across the
Department.
— Building on the pre-existing methods
of sharing good practice across the Department such as articles
in internal publications, lunchtime seminars, workshops etc, a
site on the intranet—the Good Practice Database—has
been specially created to spread useful ways of working which
are not yet standard practice throughout the Department.
(ii) Issue timely external guidance, providing
more certainty to affected parties
— This is an area where Defra accepts
improvements are still needed and is currently considering the
options. Amongst the ideas under consideration is for the Small
Business Service to run a series of seminars for Defra officials
to highlight the importance of issuing timely guidance.
— Defra is currently taking part in
a Whitehall-wide benchmarking exercise to calculate the costs
of the administrative burden on businesses. Defra has pledged
to reduce this burden by 25% by 2009. External guidance will be
considered as part of this exercise to ensure that guidance provided
by the Department is meeting the needs of our stakeholders and
is not simply adding to their administrative burdens.
(iii) Adapt its Programme and Project Management
tools to the phases and challenges of European legislation
— All new EU environment legislation
is transposed using Programme and Project Management tools specially
adapted to the legislative process. This programme will be reviewed
and evaluated at the end of the year and the PPM tools will then
be made available across the Department.
— A pilot project to adapt this PPM
methodology for the negotiation stage of an EU proposal is due
to start shortly. This was due to start earlier this year, but
has been delayed as the European Commission has delayed the proposal
(Waste Framework Directive revisions) to which it relates.
— PPM is now the standard approach
for developing regulatory proposals across the Department.
(iv) Rationalise, adapt and disseminate internal
guidance on transposition
— Guidance on transposition is available
through a single point on the intranet under Departmental Guidance
Notes on EU Matters.
— The intranet has been used to raise
awareness of the recently revised guidance and staff advised on
how to obtain electronic and/or hard copies of the guidance.
— The central guidance on transposition
produced by the Cabinet Office was recently revised and now includes
specific examples of good practice from across Whitehall, including
several from Defra. Informal feedback from policy units on this
new format has been positive and has not identified a need for
a purely Defra-oriented version.
(v) Reinforce Regulatory Impact Assessments
as a useful tool for planning transposition and implementation
— Since April 2004, assessment of sustainable
development has been mandatory for all RIAs across Defra, providing
a more robust assessment of impacts.
— Defra's Better Regulation Unit has
been working with policy colleagues through the better policy
making training courses and on a case-by-case basis to improve
the overall quality of RIAs and sharing best practice through
an electronic newsletter, Inside Policy.
— Defra's Ministerial Challenge Panel
on Regulation scrutinises the quality of RIAs and calls for additional
work where necessary.
(vi) Improve its data on European legislation
and its progress
— As part of our five year strategy
to reduce the administrative burden on businesses by 25%, Defra
has mapped the existing regulations that impose administrative
burdens and consolidated the results into a database. The mapping
work is feeding into the Better Regulation Executive co-ordinated
measurement exercise to assess administrative burdens from each
regulation in order to derive a baseline position by early 2006.
Once finalised, the database will be accessible to all staff via
the intranet and will be used as a tool by policy makers and enforcement
bodies to identify opportunities for simplification and understand
the scope of existing regulations when considering new policies.
It will also be used as a platform for the development of other
better regulation initiatives.
(vii) Increase senior level oversight of
transposition and implementation
— The Ministerial Challenge Panel on
Regulation, chaired by Lord Bach, meets every six weeks to review
regulatory proposals put forward by policy divisions.
— A report on the transposition status
of all outstanding directives is prepared for each meeting and
circulated to all Directors.
— EU and International Co-ordination
Division provide quarterly reports to Ministers on transposition
of all EU directives and infraction cases.
(viii) Improve the co-ordination with the
devolved administrations to achieve a timely response to legislation
wherever possible
— Defra has given presentations in
the Devolved Administrations to raise awareness of the infraction
process, to provide guidance on timely transposition and to promote
closer co-operation between Defra and the Devolved Administrations.
— The Department of Environment Northern
Ireland and the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs
Department have established transposition co-ordination units,
based on Defra's model, to improve their co-ordination and monitoring
of the transposition of EU legislation.
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