Recommendation 7

After a period of limited change to the regulatory landscape, three major reviews in 2025 made 149 recommendations to Defra or its arm’s-length bodies. Defra told us that a common finding from the reviews was that the regulatory system was not achieving the intended outcomes for the environment or for the economy and growth.8 This has been affected by limitations in the regulators’ systems and data, skills shortages, allocation of limited resources, and a culture of risk aversion.9 Defra explained that the reviews mean it should work in a different way, such as focusing less on process and more on outcomes.10 But changing working practices and shifting the organisational culture of the regulators to become less risk averse will be challenging. Both regulators told us they were changing their regulatory processes and systems in response to the three independent reviews: the Environment Agency is introducing more consistent 5 Committee of Public Accounts, Environmental regulation - Written evidence 6 C&AG’s Report, para 4 7 Defra, Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) 2025, 1 December 2025 8 Q 1 9 C&AG’s Report, para 14 10 Q 2 9 approaches to how it regulates, and raising the professional skills of its staff;11 and Natural England has set up a new programme management and change management unit, and organised this work into four critical reform programmes.12