London, United Kingdom
January 14, 2009
A new national research centre for
food and the environment will strengthen
Defra's ground-breaking
food, farming and environmental research programme, Farming
Minister Jane Kennedy announced today.
The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) will
bring together Defra's Central Science Laboratory, Plant
Health Division, Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate
and the Plant Variety Rights Office and Seeds Division as
one agency. This will significantly strengthen Defra's work in
plant and crop protection, food chain safety, environmental risk
assessment and crises response and promote better integration
between policy development, scientific evidence and inspection
services.
The merger will also enable a more rapid response to protect the
public interest, and remove delays for businesses involved in
both national and international trade.
Professor Bob Watson, chief scientific advisor at Defra said:
"We have positioned excellence in science at the top of Defra's
agenda to make sure we are producing the best evidence to
develop appropriate solutions for problems occurring in
ecosystems, water supplies, the climate and food. The creation
of Fera is a landmark step in taking the best research forward
and making our systems as streamlined as possible."
Adrian Belton, chief executive of The Food and Environment
Research Agency, said:
"The Food and Environment Research Agency puts Defra at the
heart of the debate on food security and the science behind
environmental issues. By combining policy development,
scientific evidence and risk assessment Fera can play a full
role in addressing challenges in the natural environment."
There will be an official launch of the new Agency in spring.
BACKGROUND
1. Fera comes into being officially on 1 April 09. This is to
denote the legal creation of the agency as announced to
Parliament in a written ministerial statement laid by Jane
Kennedy. The agency has been operating in shadow form since
April 2008.
2. Fera will be formed by merging Defra's Plant Health Division
(PHD), which includes bee health and the Plant Health and Seeds
Inspectorate (PHSI), the Plant Variety Rights Office and Seeds
Division (PVS) and the Central Science Laboratory.
3. The Agency's main science laboratories will be located at
Sand Hutton near York (currently CSL), with seed offices in
Cambridge, a wildlife study centre in Gloucestershire and
around 40 other small shared office facilities for its plant
health inspectorate around the UK.
4. Please see the CSL website for information about what CSL
currently does: www.csl.gov.uk
|
|
