Defra has announced that it is to reduce Wrap’s budget by 40% to £15.5m, as part of Chancellor George Osborne’s Spending Review
Defra said that its funding for Wrap is to reduce to 60% of its current level of £25.7m over the next 18 months – taking it to £15.5m for 2015/16 – as part of Defra’s response to the Spending Review Settlement.
Wrap expects its 2014/15 budget from Defra to be around £18m.
‘Significant’
Commenting on this development, Wrap chief executive Liz Goodwin said: “This funding reduction from Defra is clearly significant but is neither unexpected nor surprising given the UK government’s commitment to reducing the budget deficit.
“Wrap has been determined to play its part in that, and we have been actively engaged with Defra during this process. We will still be receiving significant funding which will allow Wrap to continue to make a major contribution to boosting economic growth and achieving improved use of resources.
“It is important to remember that Defra is only one of Wrap’s funders, currently providing less than half our income. We will be fully able to continue to deliver our highly- regarded work for the Scottish and Welsh governments and other funders.
“Defra’s confidence in us and our work echoes what many of our partners have been saying about the value they place on Wrap’s ability to deliver two of Defra’s core objectives – boosting the economy and improving the environment – and especially our ability to turn insight into practical action that makes a difference.
“I am delighted that Defra has recognised the value of this role. I am also pleased they recognise that we need to be adequately funded, to make the biggest impact and deliver the best return.
“Less money means rightly that we will need to focus on fewer priorities and stop doing some lower impact work. Tackling food waste will remain at the heart of Wrap’s work for all funders. We will be discussing the detail of our future work with Defra over the coming weeks.
“We will continue to work to secure other sources of income to further diversify our funding base. We are pursuing a number of opportunities and I am very confident of success.
“Despite the inevitable cut, we view the settlement as a huge vote of confidence in the work Wrap does. Wrap remains in very good shape and we are confident about the future.”
