- published: 11 Feb 2016
- views: 5407
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for co-operation between it and the Scottish Government,Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations. Defra also leads for Britain at the EU on agricultural, fisheries and environment matters and in other international negotiations on sustainable development and climate change, although a new Department of Energy and Climate Change was created on 3 October 2008 to take over the last responsibility.
It was formed in June 2001 under the leadership of Margaret Beckett, when the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was merged with part of the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and with a small part of the Home Office. The department was created after the perceived failure of MAFF to deal adequately with an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. The Department had about 9,000 core personnel, as of January 2008. The Department's main building is Nobel House on Smith Square, SW1.
Now it's getting cold
and here comes my nightmare
oh! If I could take time back
I wouldn't do what I did
now it's too late, now it's so hard
I'm not ready to go
wait a minute, wait a second
just give me time
'cause now that I've become a good girl
I admit I was wrong
for you whatever, for you whatever
I'm not ready to go
Now it's getting dare
and here come my nightmare
oh! If I could take time back
I wouldn't said what I said
now it's too late, now it's too hard
I'm not ready to go
wait a minute, wait a second
just give me time
'cause now that I've become a good girl
I admit I was wrong
for you whatever, for you whatever