Good Morning Wednesfield – Wednesday 10th May 2023. Councillor Phil Bateman said “This seems to be a story that will shock many, and has huge implications for the whole Country. It is a surprise to me that this Tory Government and its Ministers have allowed such a key department and its service, to fall so far behind modernising their approaches, when there is so many global challenges to our health and food protection.
Following a weekend of flash floods here in the Midlands, it doesn’t fill you with confidence to read a report which is so dismantling in the key areas of policy you want your Government to be confidently addressing!”
‘Complete overhaul’ needed at Defra
The House of Commons public accounts committee has called for a “complete overhaul” of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), issuing a damning report after hearing that the department is still using paper forms to handle around 14m transactions a year, is relying on “outdated” IT systems in areas like flood protection, and is struggling to recruit staff and obtain funding for a £726m modernisation programme.
Committee deputy chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: “We are facing down rapidly spreading animal diseases, maybe the next pandemic, with systems that may rely on moving paper forms around. This cannot continue.”
This story is reported in these two newspapers.- Financial Times I Yorkshire Post
