THE latest report reviewing Defra over the past five years calls for strong leadership and in-house expertise to promote UK farming and the environment in the future.

Miss Anne McIntosh, MP for Thirsk, Malton and Filey and Chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee this week published the report, Work of the Committee: 2010-15, which scrutinises Defra over this period.

MPs are concerned that the hollowing out of Defra has left the core Department less effective in persuading decision-makers in other government departments and Brussels to follow its agenda. Firm ministerial leadership and sufficient in-house expertise is needed at the heart of Defra to ensure it can deliver its priorities effectively.

Miss McIntosh said: “Defra is a small government department, so must punch above its weight if it is to deliver its cross-cutting aims for the environment, rural communities and British farming, at home and in Brussels.

“Yet the Department is worryingly vulnerable. Defra has not identified which specific policies and programmes will be reduced in future years, despite repeated requests for clarity.

"Ministers must be more transparent on where emergency money, such as winter floods response funding, is found. We also need to know what the impact of cuts will be on policy delivery.”

The Committee praised the Department’s response to crises such as the floods of winter 2013-14, horsemeat contamination, the emergence of tree diseases, such as ash die-back, and financial pressures on the dairy industry.

Miss Anne McIntosh said: “Defra has taken welcome steps to implement our recommendations on key issues such as strengthening dog control legislation and improving the Water Act. It is heartening too that our investigation on dairy prices could lead to more robust regulation of the groceries supply chain."

MPs, however, criticised Defra’s policy failures on many issues – for example to develop strong waste policies or to convince other government ministers to turn its Natural Environment White Paper aims for valuing natural capital into reality.

The Committee identifies areas for any successor select committee to pursue, including to keep up pressure on the Department to ensure that UK farmers get the best deal from Brussels out of the Common Agriculture Policy and monitoring of the level of funding for flood protection.

MPs call for Defra to publish a one-year on update report from Defra to each of the Committee’s future reports to help Parliament hold the Department to account on implementation of its recommendations.

The Committee held 60 inquiries in the 2010-15 Parliament on a wide range of environment, food and rural issues for which the Department is responsible, taking evidence from 345 organisations and receiving more than 1,000 pieces of written evidence.