Alun Davies, the Welsh Deputy Minister for Agriculture, today (21st July) announced that he has appointed top business leader Gareth Williams to head the Welsh Government’s new programme on reducing bureaucracy and streamlining regulation in the Welsh farming industry.

The ‘Working Smarter’ programme will build on work carried out by the Farming Regulation Task Force, who presented their report to the English government in May. It is set to identify the short, medium and long-term actions that the Welsh Government should adopt in order to reduce the administrative burden on farmers. 

Williams will lead the programme in making recommendations to the Welsh Government and its partner organisations on areas where unnecessary red tape can be cut and ensuring that legal responsibilities are still met and safeguards remain effective.

Mr Davies announced the appointment before the National Assembly’s Environment and Sustainability Committee. He said, “This is one of my key priorities. Wales has already moved faster to reduce the administrative burden on farmers. I’m committed to driving not only this programme but much further internal change through Government and the industry.”

He added that he remains “committed to helping farmers to maximise their profits” and explained “reducing bureaucracy to allow them to focus on farming is one way that we can do this.” He said he looked forward to benefitting from Mr William’s "fresh pair of eyes" in achieving his goals.  

New measures are expected to include more online applications and data collection taking the place of paperwork to speed up processes and reduce the cost to the taxpayer. Mr Davies concluded, “I am delighted that Gareth has agreed to consider this issue for me and look forward to receiving the report later this year.”