HILARY BENN LAUNCHES NEW FOOD & ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has officially launched the new Food and Environment Research Agency with the opening of its state-of-the-art facility in Sand Hutton. The new agency combines several parts of Defra science, which will strengthen the world-class research Defra uses to help protect the natural environment.
Fera will strengthen Defra’s ground-breaking food, farming and environmental research programme. It brings together Defra’s Central Science Laboratory, Plant Health Division, Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate and the Plant Variety Rights Office and Seeds Division and UK Government Decontamination Service into one agency.
This will significantly strengthen Defra’s work in plant and crop protection, food chain safety, environmental risk assessment and crisis 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.
Mr Benn said:
“I’m delighted to launch the new Food and Environment Research Agency. As we face the challenge of climate change, we need strong scientific institutions to provide us with good, credible evidence. The creation of FERA is a big step forward in doing this.”
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