Memorandum submitted by Natural England
Natural England welcomes, and would like to
respond to, the invitation to help frame the EFRA Committee's
inquiry into the science capability of Defra and its agencies.
Natural England is a new organisation which has been
established under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities
Act 2006. It is a non-departmental public body. Natural England's
purpose is to ensure that the natural environment is conserved,
enhanced, and managed for the benefit of present and future generations,
thereby contributing to sustainable development.
In terms of the scope of the committee's work,
we would recommend that the inquiry considers:
(a) The full range of social, economic and physical/natural
science relevant to Defra's remit.
(b) The full scope of activity from "operational"
science (required to support the short-to-medium term delivery
of Defra's objectives) through to strategic science (focused on
understanding underlying complex processes in order to assist
the development of long-term integrated solutions).
In terms of specific questions, we would suggest
that the committee could usefully consider:
(a) The overall levels of Defra funding/support
for science and the adequacy of this support to meet current and
future needs.
(b) The clarity of the rationale by which Defra
distributes resources for science—across the key topics
for which it is responsible (eg environment, food/farming,
rural affairs), across its departments and agencies and across
work focused on short and longer term needs.
(c) The extent to which Defra is effective in
working in partnership with others to gain maximum value from
public (and other) investment in science.
(d) The extent to which Defra and its agencies
are effective in informing and influencing the science work and
investment decisions of others—for example the research
councils and other government departments (eg CLG).
(e) The extent to which Defra and its agencies
effectively use research to develop integrated solutions for the
complex challenges facing our environment.
We would, of course, be happy to work with the
Committee as they progress their inquiry further.
March 2008
|
