News
WRAP Faces Job Losses - Budgets Cut by 25%
Defra have identified that there is a major shake up of its underlying departments and the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), it appears, are destined for a 25% cut in funding. Recyclet have approached Joan Ruddock MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Climate Change, Biodiversity & Waste to call for a cease in this development, due to the major influence the body has, particularly in developing the targets for the Sustainable Construction Strategy.
Proposed 25% budget cuts at the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has prompted warnings of staff job cuts and programme reductions. In a letter to staff WRAP chief executive Liz Goodwin explained that the situation was the result of the “serious budget pressures” faced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). She said that: “Defra has indeed asked us to reduce our budget by a significant amount. The final amount is still to be agreed but Defra have told us that for planning purposes we should expect a reduction of about 25%.”This means that WRAP’s budget will be about £55-60m once other contributions have been taken into account. An early January meeting between Goodwin and Environment Minister Joan Ruddock is set to discuss budgets and priorities. Final budget and programme details are expected in early February 2008.
Goodwin said that she understood Defra’s financial pressures, which follow the tight comprehensive spending review settlement made in October, but added: “We have spent time ensuring that they are absolutely clear about the importance of the work we are doing.
“And Defra recognises that we do make a real difference. At our Board meeting only last week we heard from the Defra’s representative Neil Thornton said that WRAP was highly valued by Ministers for the quality of its advice and the influence it could bring to bear.”
While she said that in a budget cut like this there will some impact on jobs she also said that in parallel some jobs a would be created because of new or changed priorities, adding: “Overall we are going to work hard to contain the impact on staff numbers.”
As she prepared her staff for the 31 day consultation period, she urged them to continue to demonstrate how efficient WRAP is as well as focussing on its core strengths.
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