18th Report - Scrutiny of the Draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government says it has "agreed with many of the Committee's recommendations" on the draft Environment Bill and has made changes in the Bill introduced, while declining some proposals on the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).

• It has strengthened the ministerial duty on the environmental principles policy statement from 'have regard' to 'have due regard', but intends "to continue to focus the duty on policy-making by Ministers" rather than extend it to all public bodies.
• It agrees that the OEP should have climate change within its enforcement remit and has removed the former exclusion.
• On OEP funding, it agrees to a five year indicative budget ring-fenced by HM Treasury, but "do[es] not agree that a separate Supply Estimate is needed".
• It says non-executive OEP members will be appointed by the Secretary of State, with the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee invited to hold a pre-appointment hearing for the Chair; it does not accept binding enforcement notices.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error