Committee publication · Correspondence · 25 February 2025
Correspondence to the Secretary of State regarding Defra's Spending Review 2025 submission, dated 7 February 2025
Summary
The EFRA Committee requests that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) share its Spending Review 2025 submission with Parliament to enable effective scrutiny. If full submission disclosure is not possible, the Committee seeks eight categories of detailed information covering funding figures, policy priorities, spending commitments, stakeholder engagement, interdepartmental coordination, legislative impacts, capital investment plans, and efficiency measures.
Key findings
- The Committee welcomes the government's commitment to fiscal transparency and early parliamentary engagement in the Spending Review process.
- The Committee requests either full disclosure of Defra's initial SR25 submission or, alternatively, detailed information across eight specified areas including Resource and Capital DEL figures, policy priorities, existing spending commitments, and efficiency plans.
- The Committee emphasizes the need to understand funding pressures, spending aspirations, and policy commitments with significant spending impacts, including legislative obligations such as net zero by 2050.
- The Committee seeks details on how Defra engages external stakeholders (service users, business, academia) and coordinates with other departments on collaborative policy areas.
- Information provided will be shared with the Scrutiny Unit, Treasury Committee, and Liaison Committee to enable cross-departmental scrutiny of overall government spending plans.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Alistair Carmichael MP, Steve Reed OBE, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Treasury Committee, House of Commons Scrutiny Unit, Liaison Committee
Notable line
“To conduct scrutiny effectively – and hold the Accounting Officer to account – my Committee needs good information to understand the issues facing your department and the plans you have …”
Key Quotes
“It is critical that Parliament can engage at an early stage to understand, scrutinise and inform the House of those spending decisions and their wider consequences.”
“To conduct scrutiny effectively – and hold the Accounting Officer to account – my Committee needs good information to understand the issues facing your department and the plans you have for spending public money in the future.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗