The Ministerial responsibilities at Defra have finally been confirmed almost a month after the general election.
Rory Stewart MP has been confirmed as the Minister responsible for resource and environmental management.
In full, he will be in charge of:
- natural environment
- floods and water
- resource and environmental management
- rural affairs
- lead responsibility for the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Forestry Commission
- deputy for the Secretary of State on Environment Council.
He is currently the Conservative MP for Penrith and The Border and was first elected in May 2010.
Defra has also confirmed that it will now only have three ministers, with all of them based in the House of Commons.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble will be the Lords spokesman for Defra and his lead responsibilities will include commercial projects such as waste PFI and climate change adaptation.
He is a Conservative life peer and served as a private secretary in the governments of both Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
In the last government he served as a government whip and spokesman on the Cabinet Office, Business, Innovation and Skills and Energy and Climate Change.
He is also deputy chief executive of the Countryside Alliance.
