Defra Press Office has been kind enough to come back to me and confirm that government ministers do, as one would expect, sign off departmental responses to e-petitions.
So this one (and see here too), this one, this one and this one, were all signed off by a minister at the time.
I’m looking forward, in a way, to seeing what Rory Stewart approves for his department to say in response to this e-petition which is approaching 30,000 signatures.
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All I can say is shame on you minister and I truly hope that a great deal more thought will go into the reply that we currently await.
Hopefully be at the 30,000 mark by the morning, excellent progress – well done all, particularly to Mark for his persistence in promoting the petition ….