§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Who will carry out the independent review, commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as part of the Rural Strategy 2004, of the role of the five statutory levy-funded organisations covering the various agricultural sectors; how much the review will cost; and whether the "Chairs' Group", set up as part of the Modernising Rural Delivery programme, will have any involvement in or influence over the review. [HL149]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)No decisions have yet been made on who will carry out the review. We estimate the total cost will be up to £250,000 including the cost of the departmental staff who will provide the reviewer's secretariat.
The "Chairs' Group" will not be involved in the review as it is concerned with the close working of organisations concerned with the creation of the new integrated agency, namely, the chairs of the Countryside Agency, English Nature, Forestry Commission and the Environment Agency and Defra's Director General—Operations & Service Delivery, together with a senior Defra official representing the Rural Development Service. However, the chairs of the levy boards will be consulted on the terms of reference for the review. Thereafter, it will be for the reviewer to invite views from stakeholders: and these stakeholders will certainly include the chairs of the levy bodies themselves. The weight given to those views will be a matter for the reviewer to consider.