Recommendation 17

HM Government Acknowledged

Our 25 Year Environment Plan, the Environment Bill’s first statutory Environmental Improvement Plan, sets out steps the government will take to manage and protect our natural world for environmental improvement. It sets out clear commitments in the key areas of resource efficiency and waste reduction, air quality, water and biodiversity. The Bill creates a power to set long-term, legally-binding environmental targets. At least every five years, the government must assess whether meeting such targets set under the Bill’s framework, alongside any other statutory environmental targets, would significantly improve the natural environment in England. When developing targets, we will consider any relevant international best practice and commitments, such as new international biodiversity targets to be developed under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and their relevance to our domestic environmental agenda. The government is committed to establishing the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) as soon as possible after Royal Assent with sufficient funding to fulfil its statutory advice, scrutiny, and enforcement functions. The intention, subject to finalising parliamentary passage, is to provide the OEP with a five year indicative budget, with a ring-fenced budget for each spending review period. Defra have agreed this approach with HM Treasury to give the OEP the greatest possible certainty over its finances for the coming years. The OEP will then be required to report annually on whether it has sufficient funding to carry out its functions, and we will share this information with Parliament.