Defra has announced the appointment of three new non-executive board members, including Baroness Kate Rock, who led the Rock Review into farm tenancies.
Non-executive board members are senior figures from outside government, appointed for three year terms to provide challenge to government departments.
As set out in the Code of Practice, non-executive board members are appointed directly by the Defra Secretary and are not civil servants.
Kate Rock is a director of Wrackleford Farms Ltd, a tenant farming enterprise, and a trustee and director of the Royal Countryside Fund.
In February 2022, she was appointed as chair of the Tenancy Working Group, commissioned by Defra to look at the future of agricultural tenancies.
The Rock Review, which issued numerous recommendations to the government to improve farm tenancies, was published in October 2022.
Baroness Rock is also a peer in the House of Lords and sat on the Select Committee for the Rural Economy from 2018 to 2019.
The two other non-executive board members appointments are Julian Glover and Nick Folland.
Mr Glover is a policy adviser and author. He is a trustee of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and chair of its Midlands and East region.
He led the independent Landscapes Review for the government into ways to improve the UK's landscapes and environment.
Nick Folland has extensive legal and governance experience, having been general counsel and company secretary of FTSE 100 businesses since 2001.
He has been in this role for Marks and Spencer since November 2018.
