The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the entire United Kingdom. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for cooperation, between it and the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and from 1919 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. It attained its final name in 1955 with the addition of responsibilities for the British food industry to the existing responsibilities for agriculture and the fishing industry, a name that lasted until the Ministry was dissolved in 2002, at which point its responsibilities had been merged into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease on farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million cows and sheep were slaughtered on farms in an eventually successful attempt to halt the disease. Cumbria was the worst affected area of the country, with 893 cases.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is a government department in the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved administration for Northern Ireland. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The department was called the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development between 1999 and 2016. The Minister of Agriculture previously existed in the Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972, where the department was known as the Ministry of Agriculture. The current Permanent Secretary is Katrina Godfrey.
Sir Brian Geoffrey Bender was a British civil servant, who served as the Permanent Secretary of three departments, two of which were re-organised whilst he was at their helm.
The Elliott Baronetcy, of Limpsfield in the County of Surrey, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 21 June 1917 for the civil servant Sir Thomas Elliott, KCB,. He was Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1892 to 1913.
Sir Alfred John Digby Winnifrith KCB was a senior British Civil Servant at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Sir Andrew Thomas Cahn, KCMG is chair of the board of governors of Birkbeck, University of London, and a former senior civil servant.
Sir Francis Lewis Castle Floud KCB KCSI KCMG was a British civil servant and diplomat. Very unusually, he received three knighthoods for his public services.
Lucy Jeanne Neville-Rolfe, Baroness Neville-Rolfe is a British businesswoman and politician who served as Minister of State at the Cabinet Office from September 2022 to July 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she served in ministerial positions under prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak. In December 2021, she was appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to lead the statutory review into the state pension age.
The 1884 Birthday Honours were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of the Queen, and were published in The London Gazette in May and June 1884.
This is a list of Permanent Under-Secretaries for Scotland in the Civil Service. It should not be confused with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland.
Sir Michael David Milroy Franklin, KCB, CMG was an English civil servant. Educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, Franklin entered the civil service in 1950; after four years in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture, he was head of the European Secretariat at the Cabinet Office from 1977 to 1981, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Trade from 1982 to 1983, and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1983 to 1987.
Sir Derek Henry Andrews, KCB, CBE was an English civil servant. Educated at the London School of Economics, he joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1957 after completing National Service, and spent much of his career working on the Common Agricultural Policy. He was the ministry's Permanent Secretary from 1987 to 1993, leading it during the BSE and Salmonelli crises of the late 1980s. He was chairman of the Residuary Milk Marketing Board from 1994 to 2002.
Sir Alan Derrett Neale, KCB, MBE was an English civil servant. Educated at Highgate School and St John's College, Oxford, he was an officer in the Intelligence Corps in the Second World War. He entered the civil service in 1946 and served in the Board of Trade until 1968, when he moved to HM Treasury; there, he was Second Permanent Secretary from 1971 to 1973, with responsibility for overseas finance and monetary policy. He was then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1973 to 1978, during which time the UK entered the European Community and adopted the Common Agricultural Policy. He was then a member of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, serving as deputy chairman from 1982 to 1986. He was then deputy chairman of the Association of Futures Brokers and Dealers (1987–91) and was also chair of the Reform Club. He authored several books, including The Anti-Trust Laws of the USA (1960).
Sir Edwin Alan Hitchman, KCB, commonly known as Alan Hitchman, was an English civil servant.
Sir Donald Edward Vandepeer, KCB, KBE was an English civil servant. Educated at University of London, he entered the civil service in 1908 and joined the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries; he was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry from 1945 to 1952. He led the British delegation to the United Nation Food and Agricultural Organisation's conferences.
Sir Frederick Matthias Kearns, KCB, MC was an English civil servant.
Sir Henry Hardman, KCB was an English civil servant and, briefly, an academic economist.
Sir Henry Leon French, GBE, KCB was an English civil servant.
