Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Lanyards

Since 4 July 2024, core Defra (excluding its agencies and arm’s-length bodies) has spent £7,251 on lanyards, purchasing a total of 12,870 items. These comprised ‘staff’, ‘escorted’ and ‘unescorted’ designs used to facilitate access to Defra group buildings. This includes lanyards procured centrally for use across shared buildings, including for sites recorded under the Environment Agency property centre, and where agencies and arm’s-length bodies request that purchases are made on their behalf. Unit costs vary depending on the quantity ordered.

The Forestry Commission has two design types of lanyards. A generic green lanyard with 'staff' is used in Forest Research; these are purchased at a cost £59.75 (per 100) per annum. Lanyards for the other offices contain the organisation logo with a bulk purchase of 2,700 at a cost of £1,593.00 following the introduction of ID cards for all staff in August 2025.

Ofwat has purchased 970 lanyards since 4 July 2024. This has cost £551.80. Ofwat uses the generic lanyard design, but with three options: for staff (black), visitors (yellow) and contractors (blue/orange).

Since 4 July 2024, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has spent a total of £4,588.00 on lanyards. The below breakdown details the designs of lanyards purchased, the number of each lanyard design purchased, and the cost of each lanyard design purchased.

APHA can only collate financial spend data where requisitioners have specified the spend is on lanyards. When staff join APHA they are issued with a pass and lanyard, either from Defra Estates or from the organisation which owns the building.

Cefas has identified the following spend on lanyards:

All of the listed lanyards were plain, and therefore there was no spend on design. Numbers can only be estimated at around 100, as such details are not routinely held on Cefas’s systems. Other lanyards used by Cefas are provided through Defra Property Services, who report these costs.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) does not hold centrally recorded information on expenditure on lanyards. Lanyards are provided to the RPA as part of facilities management services under contracted arrangements, with stock procured and managed by the Department’s facilities service provider.

Since 4 July 2024, total expenditure on lanyards by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is £112.74. The lanyards purchased were VMD-branded. A total of 60 lanyards were procured at a unit cost of £1.879, giving a total cost of £112.74.

RBG Kew has spent £2,440 on lanyards since July 2024. Due to disproportionate costs and time, RBG Kew cannot provide any further detail.

The Consumer Council for Water has not purchased any lanyards for its staff since 4 July 2024.

The Environment Agency occupies a shared Defra group estate and as such, lanyards are provided through its shared Facilities Management arrangement with Defra. The expenditure for these is covered within Defra's figures.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) has not purchased any lanyards for its staff since 4 July 2024 because it has an existing stock of lanyards purchased in February 2024. These are plain green with JNCC printed in white.

Since 4 July 2024, total expenditure on lanyards by the Marine Management Organisation is £144.95 (including VAT). This related to the purchase of 100, 20mm dye sub lanyards, with the Marine Management Organisation and Government crest printed on them.

Natural England has conducted a search of all programme budget reports since 4 July 2024 and has identified two transactions for lanyards in this period:

• £396 was spent on lanyards for name badges at a Nature Recovery Conference
• £7.50 for lanyards used during Marine Citizen Science Week

Details of the numbers and design are not available.

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has not purchased any lanyards directly in this time period. They are supplied by the OEP’s landlord, along with the security pass for access to the building. They are charged for within the costs of managing security access, and not separately. All the OEP’s lanyards are plain black.

Seafish has spent £458 on lanyards since 4 July 2024, mainly relating to international expos with a small number for safety training instructors. The lanyards purchased for expos are for staff and exhibitors to wear at the various trade exhibitions that Seafish attends.