Tuesday, March 11, 2008

DEFRA .....

..... seems to have been running up some quite extraordinary travel bills over the last few years, as reported in the Western Daily Press.

"The Government agency responsible for leading Britain's campaign against climate change has been slammed by a West MP for spending £2.3 million on exotic trips abroad."

So just why would DEFRA send staff to exotic locations such as the Caribbean, the Cayman Islands, Barbados, the Seychelles, Mozambique, Brazil and Ghana? Beats me.

Oh, but they've been offsetting all the carbon costs involved. "All emissions from Defra ministerial and official flights have been offset since 2005 and from road and rail travel since 2006."

Bless.

Addendum: (12/3/08)
But they ARE going to help local authorities to fight climate change according to DEFRA's own website, by providing monies to "
spread existing best practice on climate change among local authorities, and provide training and mentoring to help them reduce emissions and adapt to the already unavoidable effects of climate change." (Sorry, but I'm struggling not to laugh out loud here.)

The programme will "be tailored to local needs and priorities, with delivery being co-ordinated at a regional level." Hahahahahahaha!!! Sorry, I couldn't help it.

Sounds to me like more 'jobs for the boys' and an additional waste of £4 Million!

Coming on top of the DBERR 'committed' proclamation (see post below), I have to say that if it wasn't so ridiculously sad, I'd reckon they've employed a comedy script writer.

Oh, look, eGov Monitor explains it all.
"From April, councils' success in cutting carbon dioxide emissions will be measured as part of a new performance framework. They will also be assessed on their efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change, and to tackle fuel poverty. Many councils are expected to set specific targets to lead the drive to cut back on carbon emissions in their areas."

So, it's all about setting targets, and then measuring performance against them. Yet again! What do you call it when you experience the same 'deja vu' repeatedly? Surely it ceases to become deja vu?