Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
The Department has not established the metrics that it will need to determine whether ELM...
Conclusion
The Department has not established the metrics that it will need to determine whether ELM is contributing towards the government’s environmental goals. The Department has set out its high-level vision for ELM, which is to secure a range of positive environmental benefits and to help tackle some of the environmental challenges associated with agriculture. But it does not yet have detailed objectives for achieving this vision. The Department has committed to publishing these before Christmas, alongside details of the initial roll-out of SFI. However, the objectives will only apply to the current Parliament and will not include ELM’s contributions to long-term objectives, such as to net-zero. The Department is unable to explain how it intends to assess progress against environmental baselines, or even whether these baseline measures exist. In the early stages of ELM, the Department will award payments based on the amount of land on which specified environmental actions are being carried out, not on measuring the environmental benefits delivered through these actions. The Department expects that, for later elements, such as peatland restoration, it will be in a position to make greater use of baseline data. Recommendation: The Department should develop clear metrics, and establish robust baseline measures, to allow it to assess the operational effectiveness of ELM and ensure these are published before the start of roll-out in 2022. It should report against these metrics annually to enable Parliament and the public to determine what progress it is making towards meeting the objectives set out in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2022. It should report against these metrics annually to enable Parliament and the public to determine what progress it is making towards meeting the objectives set out in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan. 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: January 2023 2.2 The government agrees with the Committee that it is important to have clear metrics for the reform programme and to publish progress updates about the operational effectiveness of schemes regularly. 2.3 The government has, since the Committee’s investigation in October 2021, published more information about its key aims for the schemes. 2.4 These interventions will support the long-term environmental targets that are being developed under the Environment Act 2021 and will be consulted upon soon. 2.5 The government will report annually on the delivery of targets within its statutory Environmental Improvement Plan, as required under the Act. This will include metrics about the performance and contribution of Environmental Land schemes.