In name maybe... But after the new grouping (defra) was created the last
letter of the group - the old Min of Ag - seems to have taken over - as far as
grabbing the gelt is concerned. Given this while BW may have seemed to stay put
in reality the fact that it now shares a ministry and paymaster with the money
sink that is the common agricultural policy as practised by HM government and
the MofA is dragging it back.
As a small-holder and so a very small recipient of Cap money - from which
they deduct 10% for - UK (6%) and Euro (4%) - Eco tax one quickly learns the
reality of Defra's biggest spender. For apart from a small amount of money they
send us mountains of very expensive literature, most of which uses 50 pages to
explain something that could fit in a para. For example recently we received a
book which included the gem that 'from now on Bee-hives must not be placed on
set-aside land (as they could be up til now) as under the latest regs the
placing of a hive on said land means the land is being farmed and is therefore
not set-aside. However, if the hives are next to the set-aside area and the
bees fly from them to use the set-aside flowers then this is OK.
This literature mountain is just part of the MofA big spends - they also
have lots of staff who all seem to work in office buildings. All in all when
dealing with the Min of Ag on a regular basis one quickly learns that they are
still one of the big (mis)spenders and the last mob you want BW to be sharing a
trough with when it comes to money.
David Cragg
Richard Fairhurst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
David Cragg wrote:
> I seem to remember that the only reason BW were moved to
> DEFRA in the first place was that one of Tony's lords so loved
> them that he took them with him when he was moved from
> John Prescott's Ministry of Everything.
This is a popular misconception, I think. BW has been part of
the Department for the Environment since at least the 70s,
passing in due course to Prescott's DETR and then to DEFRA.
Richard
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