Recommendation 14

HM Government · verbatim extract Not Addressed

In formulating this recommendation, the EAC considered other indicators and metrics on biodiversity and wider natural capital beyond the information provided in the Environmental Accounts. We have therefore taken a consistent interpretation in our response. In England, through the Environment Bill, the government is introducing a statutory cycle of monitoring, planning and reporting on Environmental Improvement Plans (EIPs). The cycle comprises annual reports by government to Parliament on progress, regular scrutiny by the Office for Environmental Protection, and five-yearly reviews of the EIP. The OEP will scrutinise the government’s annual report, and may recommend how progress could be improved, to which government must respond. The Outcome Indicator Framework provides one method of reporting on the progress of the EIP. The Framework presents an authoritative way to measure changes to our environment. It draws together a comprehensive suite of measures which collectively describe environmental change as it relates to the ten goals of the 25 YEP (which will become the first EIP). The framework was developed using the concept of natural capital. It focuses on the natural capital outcomes and goals that we have set out to achieve, grouped as: (1) Reducing pressures on natural capital assets (e.g. pollution or plant disease); (2) Improving the state of natural capital assets (including air, water, land and seas); and (3) Increasing the benefits that we get from those assets.