Articles

Environment secretary Liz Truss has hailed Defra’s new Open Data Initiative as the biggest ever "data give-away" by government. But what will it mean in practice? Mark Rowe reports

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs appoints Emma Howard Boyd to agency

The countryside and climate change were strangely absent from the election campaign and the Queen’s Speech. Why – and what does this mean for DECC, Defra and the governance of the environment? Mark Rowe reports

Business secretary tells MPs that flagship coalition project will be moved out of the public sector to allow it to borrow more and "grow its business"

As the debate about the benefits – or not – of HS2 rages on, Colin Marrs asks if there’s enough firm evidence to make an informed judgement on this controversial major project

If we are serious about creating a sustainable future, we must make Whitehall fit for the challenge, says environmental policy analyst and former government adviser Duncan Brack

Former environment secretary (2010-12) talks to Civil Service World about her best and worst experiences of working with the civil service, clearing her desk post-reshuffle, and why she believes Whitehall training could be boosted by secondment to the private or voluntary sectors

Four new members appointed to Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

I’ve loved running the national forest company – but the civil service is a tough environment for small delivery agencies

The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) will receive joint funding from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Somerset County Council as part of the Somerset Action Plan (SAP), it was announced Monday 8 December. 

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has announced plans to centralise TB testing on farms to ensure greater efficiency from April 2015. 

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) is launching a new strategy to support and protect bees and other pollinators in the UK. 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra’s) flood defence resources are limited and current spending is “insufficient to meet many of the maintenance needs” identified by the Environment Agency (EA), the National Audit Office (NAO) said today.

Sir Jonathon Porritt has been an environmental campaigner for 40 years – including nine spent working directly with civil servants. He tells Winnie Agbonlahor why, despite his disappointment with the ‘greenest government ever’, he has reasons to be optimistic

Improving Europe’s railway systems would lead to substantial economic and environmental benefits, argues Izaskun Bilbao Barandica.

As chairman of the Environment Agency, Chris Smith had even more reason than most Brits to curse the weather last winter.

The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has been “instrumental” in making Britain “one of the best places for green investment anywhere in the world”, prime minister David Cameron said today.

Defra have confirmed that the 5p plastic bag charge will be introduced in England in October 2015.

New levy to cut waste

Sir Philip Dilley has been confirmed as the new chairman of the Environment Agency, and will take up the post on 8 September 2014.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life thinks it knows how to halt the seemingly endless scandals about outsourcing. Report by Colin Marrs. Illustration by John Levers

AECOM’s Associate Director of Sustainability, Michael Henderson, considers the environmental and economic benefits of effective water management in urban areas.