2454 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

Evaluation of the Community Plant Health Regime: Final Report
DG SANCO Evaluation Framework Contract Lot 3 (Food Chain)
Understanding the evidence needs for policy:
Understanding the context – fundamental processes and phenomena of plant and plantpathogen
biology, baselines and benchmarks for plant health and disease;
Development of models, methodologies and tools for rapid diagnosis, assessment of
possible actions and monitoring of outcomes;
Developing and using the evidence base to help set targets and formulate policy;
Improving outputs through:
The development and appraisal of options/solutions for plant health and disease
management;
Optimum decisions and effective implementation through communication, engagement a
consultation, to influence changes;
Monitoring & evaluating outcomes and impacts of policy – economic, environmental, social and
human health
Monitoring progress towards policy/programme targets;
Policy/programme evaluation.
DEFRA (2006) Evidence and Innovation strategy - Summary of Plant Health Evidence and Innovation needs
During the evaluation, the extent to which current R&D development in the EU (whether EU or
MS funded) has addressed the right priorities was explored:
General survey results
Q8.2 Extent to which R&D development in the EU has targeted the right priorities in plant health field
MS CA
Stakeholders (a)
EC funded research (FP programmes)
Fully 5 out of 23 1 out of 24
Partly 13 out of 23 8 out of 24
Not at all 0 out of 23 0 out of 24
Do not know 5 out of 23 15 out of 24
MS funded research
Fully 4 out of 23 1 out of 23
Partly 12 out of 23 5 out of 23
Not at all 4 out of 23 0 out of 23
Do not know 3 out of 23 17 out of 23
(a) The large number of „do not know‟ in the case of stakeholders is justified by the relatively more limited visibility
of this type of research to stakeholders.
For the majority of respondents to the general survey, research and development in the EU is
considered to have at least partly or fully targeted the right priorities in the field of plant health,
especially in the case of EU funded R&D.
MS CAs, in particular, have nonetheless highlighted that there is scope for further alignment of
research funding to actual priorities. A clear persisting challenge in the existing situation is that
the policy and legislation that underpins phytosanitary policy is determined at EU level but most
of the research that supports policy development and implementation is done by MS. As stated
earlier, plant health research activities are mainly commissioned under national MS budgets
(accounting for roughly 90% of all such budgets available in the EU), while the policy is defined
at the EU level. As a consequence, there are often differences between MS and EU priorities.
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 158