Natural England

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Natural England
Natural England
Agency overview
Formed 1 October 2006
Jurisdiction UK Government
Headquarters Sheffield, England
Employees 2,273 (2007)1
Annual Budget £224 million GBP (2007)1
Agency Executives Sir Martin Doughty, Chairman
 
Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive
Parent agency Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Website
www.naturalengland.org.uk

Natural England is a Non-Departmental Public Body of the UK government. It was formed (vested) on 1 October 2006. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, freshwater and marine environments, geology and soils, are protected and improved. It also has a responsibility to help people enjoy, understand and access the natural environment.

Natural England was established by the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, which implemented the recommendations of a rural review by Christopher Haskins, Baron Haskins of Skidby. It was formed by the amalgamation of three founder bodies:

It received the powers of the founder bodies e.g. awarding grants; designating Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest; managing certain National Nature Reserves; overseeing access to open country and other recreation rights; and enforcing the associated regulations. It is also responsible for the administration of numerous grant schemes and frameworks that finance the development and conservation of the natural environment, for example Environmental Stewardship.

As an NDPB it is theoretically independent of Government. However, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs will have the legal power to issue guidance to Natural England on various matters2, a constraint that is not placed on its predecessor NDPBs. Natural England takes its Finance, Human Resources and Estates services from the Defra Shared Services organisation3. Information Technology services are outsourced to IBM4; it will be responsible for the delivery of some aspects of Defra's Public Service Agreements (e.g. reversing the long-term decline in the number of farmland birds by 2020 and improving public access to the countryside).

Natural England is focusing its activities and resources on four strategic outcomes:

  • a healthy natural environment
  • enjoyment of the natural environment
  • sustainable use of the natural environment
  • a secure environmental future

State of the Natural Environment

In May 2008 Natural England published a report called State of the Natural Environment. This brought together statistics and facts about England's environment, so that it could be used by environmental organisations as a benchmark and source for policy development.

This complemented reports produced by other organisations:

References

  1. ^ a b Annual Report and Accounts 1 April 2006 – 31 March 2007
  2. ^ NERC Act 2006, Powers of Secretary of State, Guidance
  3. ^ Public Update on implementation of Lord Haskins’ Rural Delivery Review, Recommendation 6
  4. ^ Natural England chooses IBM as its transformation partner



External links

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 27 November 2008, at 00:19.

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