The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs which criticised a lack of enforcement activity against illegal 'gangmasters' in the agricultural industry. It accepted that current lines of ministerial accountability were 'not as clear as they could be': but said it did not consider that the basic approach to enforcement activity was either wrong or inadequate.
Source: Gangmasters: Government Reply to the Committee's Report, First Special Report (Session 2003-04), HC 122, House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | MPs' report
Date: 2003-Dec
A report examined ways of promoting social enterprise in rural areas.
Source: Supporting Rural Social Enterprise, Countryside Agency (0870 120 6466)
Links: Summary (pdf) | Countryside Agency press release
Date: 2003-Nov
Farmers' incomes in 2003 were at their highest level since 1997, following the third annual increase in a row. Total income from farming rose by 34 per cent, according to government forecasts, to reach 3.23 billion (compared to 2.48 billion in 2002).
Source: First Forecast of Total Income from Farming in the UK in 2003, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)
Links: Report (pdf) | DEFRA press release
Date: 2003-Nov
A study, based in Scotland, looked at what role information and communications technologies could play in helping unemployed people in rural areas find work.
Source: Ronald McQuaid, Colin Lindsay and Malcolm Greig, Wired for Work? ICT and job seeking in rural areas, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 431213)
Links: Report (pdf) | JRF Findings 933
Date: 2003-Sep
The government announced the creation of two new bodies concerned with farming and food research. The industry-led Applied Research Forum would aim to ensure better co-ordination of, and support for, research and science in farming and food: it consisted of representatives from agriculture and horticulture levy bodies, English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland government and agencies, and farming unions. An independent Sustainable Farming and Food Research Priorities Group would identify priorities for the government to underpin its strategy on sustainable farming and food, and develop better cross-industry working and joint initiatives to create greater cohesion in farming and food research.
Source: Press release 23 September 2003, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (020 7238 6000)
Links: DEFRA press release
Date: 2003-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government had failed to confront the problem of illegal activity within the agriculture and horticulture labour market, associated with 'gangmasters'. Enforcement of existing legislation was perfunctory and unco-ordinated. Enforcement agencies were insufficiently resourced and lacked the political backing to make a significant impact. It also said that the decline in the supply of casual labour in rural areas, and the relationships between supermarkets and their suppliers, were significant contributory factors. A backbench MP introduced a Bill for the licensing and regulation of gangmasters.
Source: Gangmasters, Fourteenth Report (Session 2002-03), HC 691, House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Mark Simmonds MP, Licensing and Registration of Gangmasters Bill, TSO | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 10 September 2003, columns 331-334, TSO
Links: Report | Citizens Advice press release | Hansard
Date: 2003-Sep
The findings were published of a public consultation exercise on genetically modified foods. It was found that people were generally uneasy about GM; the more people engaged in GM issues, the harder their attitudes and more intense their concerns; there was little support for early commercialisation; and there was widespread mistrust of government and multinational companies. The government said that it would 'reflect carefully' on the findings.
Source: GM Nation?: The GM public debate, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500) | Press release 24 September 2003, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (020 7238 6000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary | DEFRA press release
Date: 2003-Sep
The Welsh Assembly Government began consultation on the way environmental issues were tackled on Welsh farms, and the payments which could be available to help farmers to take an environmentally sustainable approach to the way they farmed.
Source: Welsh Farming and the Environment: Consultation on a new approach, Welsh Assembly Government (01970 627762)
Links: WAG press release
Date: 2003-Aug
The government began consultation on proposed reforms (agreed by European Union ministers in June 2003) to the European Common Agricultural Policy.
Source: Press release 22.7.03, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (020 7238 6000)
Links: DEFRA press release | Consultation letter
Date: 2003-Jul
The government's Strategy Unit published a report into the overall costs and benefits of genetically modified crops. It said that existing GM crops could offer some cost and convenience advantages to farmers, but that any economic benefit to the United Kingdom was likely to be limited, at least in the short term. The overall balance of future costs and benefits would depend on public attitudes, and on the ability of the regulatory system to manage uncertainties.
Source: Field Work: Weighing up the costs and benefits of GM crops, Strategy Unit/Cabinet Office (020 7276 1881) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 11.7.03, column 64WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary | SU press release | Hansard | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jul
A report said that women played an important role in rural economies, but that the challenges they faced meant their full potential was not being realised. Women faced problems of finding a suitable, flexible, family-friendly job they could get to easily.
Source: The Role of Women in the Rural Economy, Countryside Agency (0870 120 6466)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jul
A public consultation exercise began on the issues raised by genetically modified crops. Campaigners said the exercise was poorly organised and funded. A former environment minister reportedly said that the government had downplayed the public health risks involved in GM farming.
Source: Press release 3.6.03, GM Public Debate Steering Board (020 7215 6508) | Press release 2.6.03, Consumers' Association (020 7770 7000) | The Guardian, 23.6.03
Links: GM Steering Board press release | Consumers' Association press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jun
The European Union reached agreement on a plan to reform the Common Agricultural Policy, involving an end to the link between farm subsidies and production. The United Kingdom government said the outcome met its principal negotiating objectives.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 26.6.03, columns 1220-1236, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jun
A report said that rural areas provided an increasingly fertile ground for high-skill jobs, and in many cases were out-pacing urban counterparts.
Source: Mark Hepworth, The Knowledge Economy and the Future of Rural Britain, Local Futures Group (020 7520 8120) and Action with Communities in Rural England
Links: Summary | ACRE press release
Date: 2003-Apr
A review of the rural economy said that over five million people work in rural districts, and more than half of all new business start-ups are by people who have moved into the countryside: thriving rural economies are therefore vital to national prosperity. But it said that this masks social problems caused by very low incomes, especially among women.
Source: Rural Economies: Stepping stones to healthier futures, Countryside Agency (0870 120 6466)
Links: Report (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-Mar
Farm incomes rose by 15 per cent in 2002, according to updated figures. Total farming income was 2.36 billion, compared to 2.07 billion in 2001. (A forecast published in November 2002 predicted an 11 per cent increase.) Income per head rose by 20 per cent in 2002, with the average full-time farmer earning 11,136. This was the second year running that there had been an increase, although total income was still far below its 1995 peak.
Source: Provisional Estimates of Farm Incomes, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Defra press release
Date: 2003-Jan