Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: February 2019

The Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (IMG EFRA) met today at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh.

The meeting was chaired by Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Scottish Government.

The attending Ministers were:

• from the UK Government: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
• from the Welsh Government:  The Minister for Energy, Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths AM
• from the Scottish Government:  The Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Roseanna Cunningham MSP;  the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing MSP  and the Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, Mairi Gougeon, MSP
• the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs attended the meeting in the continued absence of a Northern Ireland Executive

The Chair opened the meeting by welcoming the new Terms of Reference, noting that they were without prejudice to the ongoing review of intergovernmental relations.  

The IMG EFRA discussed no deal contingency planning, secondary legislation, devolved administration engagement in Future Economic Partnership discussions, and updates on primary legislation on the environment, agriculture and fisheries.