Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department

Last updated

The Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) was a civil service department of the Scottish Executive. SEERAD was responsible for the following areas in Scotland: agriculture, rural development, food, the environment and fisheries. Following the change of administration in May 2007, a restructuring exercise led to most SEERAD functions being continued under the new Scottish Executive Environment Directorate.

Contents

SEERAD was directly responsible for various agencies of the Scottish Executive and other public bodies relating to these areas of responsibility. From early 2005 the Department was headed by Richard Wakeford. The Minister for Environment and Rural Development was Ross Finnie and he was assisted by the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Sarah Boyack.

A concordat set out agreed frameworks for co-operation between it and the United Kingdom government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [1]

Many of the functions of SEERAD were subsumed into the Environment Directorate in 2007.

Structure

The department had three executive agencies:

The department sponsored several non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) including:

The department also worked with Scottish Water.

Related Research Articles

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Agriculture ministry of United Kingdom (British ministerial department)

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for co operation, between it and the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations.

Welsh Government Executive of the Welsh Parliament

The Welsh Government is the devolved executive of Wales. The government consists of ministers, who attend cabinet meetings, and deputy ministers who do not, and also of a counsel general. It is led by the First Minister, usually the leader of the largest party in the Senedd, who selects ministers and deputy ministers with the approval of the Senedd. The government is responsible for tabling policy in devolved areas for consideration by the Senedd and implementing policy that has been approved by it.

Minister of Health (Canada)

The minister of health is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing health-focused government agencies including Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as enforcing the Canada Health Act, the law governing Canada's universal health care system. The current minister is Patty Hajdu.

The following list outlines the structure of the Government of Canada.

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Ontario)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is an Ontario government ministry responsible for the food, agriculture and rural sectors of the Canadian province of Ontario. The Minister is currently Ernie Hardeman.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) seeking to protect public health, animal health, the environment and promoting animal welfare by assuring the safety, quality and efficacy of veterinary medicines in the United Kingdom.

Executive agencies are established by ministers as part of Scottish Government to carry out a discrete area of work. They form an integral part of the Scottish Government, but have a specific, well-defined remit. They are staffed by civil servants and headed by a Chief Executive, who is a civil servant, and are directly accountable to the government.

Public bodies of the Scottish Government are organisations that are funded by the Scottish Government. It is a tightly meshed network of executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies ("quangoes"); tribunals; and nationalised industries. Such public bodies are distinct from executive agencies of the Scottish Government, as unlike them they are not considered to be part of the Government and staff of public bodies are not civil servants, although executive agencies are listed in the Scottish Government's directory of national public bodies alongside other public bodies.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is Scotland’s environmental regulator and national flood forecasting, flood warning and strategic flood risk management authority. Its main role is to protect and improve Scotland's environment. SEPA does this by helping business and industry to understand their environmental responsibilities, enabling customers to comply with legislation and good practice and to realise the economic benefits of good environmental practice. One of the ways SEPA does this is through the NetRegs environmental guidance service. It protects communities by regulating activities that can cause harmful pollution and by monitoring the quality of Scotland's air, land and water. The regulations it implements also cover the storage, transport and disposal of radioactive materials.

Central Science Laboratory

The Central Science Laboratory (CSL) was an executive agency of the UK government branch, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). It is now part of the Food and Environment Research Agency, which is in turn part of DEFRA.

A food safety agency or food administration is a kind of agency found in various countries and international organizations with responsibilities related to food, primarily with ensuring the safety of food sold or distributed to the population, and with ensuring that food sellers inform the population of the origins and health qualities and risks associated with food being sold.

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) 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 and was previously known as the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland or the Ministry of Agriculture. The department's Permanent Secretary is Denis McMahon

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism is a position in the Scottish Government Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary is responsible for rural Scotland, tourism, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, food and drink, and crofting. The Cabinet Secretary was assisted by the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform until 2016, when that role was given its own Cabinet level post. The Cabinet Secretary is assisted by the Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, who also reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform.

The Scottish Government Rural Affairs, Environment and Services Directorates were a group of civil service Directorates in the Scottish Government until a December 2010 re-organisation.

The Scottish Government Economy Directorates are a group of civil service Directorates in the Scottish Government. They were rebranded as the Economy Directorates in July 2016, having previously been reorganised in December 2010 and then in June 2014.

Ministry of Agriculture (Spain)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for proposing and carrying out the government policy on agricultural, livestock and fishery resources, food industry, rural development and human food. The Ministry is responsible for assigning Veterinary Surgeons to carry out checks in regard to the issuing of REGA Licences a requirement for the ownership of horses on Spanish property and small holdings.

Conservation in Scotland

This page gives an overview of the structure of environmental and cultural conservation in Scotland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom.

References