MAFF remit to expand?
8 June 2000
MAFF remit to expand?
RADICAL changes could be in the offing at the ministry of agriculture, claims the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.
The recent appointment of high-flying Blairite civil servant Brian Bender as permanent secretary has fed rumours that MAFF is to expand.
Mr Bender, formerly permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, replaces Sir Richard Packer.
Critics said Sir Richard resisted openness in the department and was too close to farmers at the expense of consumer interests.
Shadow Leader of the House, Lib Dem MP Paul Tyler, told the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today programme that Mr Benders appointment was very intriguing.
He said it may signal that MAFF getting a higher place at the ministerial table, and speculated that it would signal an expansion of the departments remit, bringing in wider rural issues.
This doesnt look like a department thats about to be slimmed down. It looks to me like a department which is about to expand, said Mr Tyler.
I would very much welcome bringing together the interests and concerns of the countryside more widely with those of the production of food in the countryside.
He said having rural issues brought into a compact and effective whole would redress some of the inadequacies of the old MAFF.
Mr Tyler predicted that farm minister Nick Brown would stay in his job for the foreseeable future as he was relatively successful compared to predecessors.
I think were in for a period of expanding importance and expanding recognition of the concerns of the countryside.
It had been widely rumoured that MAFF was to be scrapped and replaced by an over-arching rural ministry.
However, the Prime Minister ruled that out earlier this year, according to some reports because he feared a new ministry would only marginalise country issues.