Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Fortieth Report - Achieving government’s long-term environmental goals
Public Accounts Committee
HC 927
Published 3 February 2021
Recommendations
5
Environmental impacts are still not being taken into account in spending decisions.
Recommendation
Environmental impacts are still not being taken into account in spending decisions. For the last Spending Review, the Treasury asked departments to set out how their proposals would contribute towards the UK’s statutory carbon targets, and to explain their impact …
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HM Treasury
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Conclusions (21)
2
Conclusion
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has the policy responsibility for the environment, but not the clout to hold other departments to account or manage trade-offs between policy areas. In July 2018, the Environmental Audit Committee recommended that government needed to do more to ensure that all departments, …
3
Conclusion
Government still does not have a good grip of the total costs required to deliver its environmental goals and funding so far has been piecemeal. The Department received an additional £1 billion in funding for 2020–21 in the Spending Review 2020, though it is not clear how much of this …
4
Conclusion
Skills gaps in departments and arm’s length bodies jeopardise government’s capacity to deliver on its environmental ambitions. Progress towards environmental goals requires skills across government, and particularly in arm’s length bodies who have key responsibility for delivery of the goals. The Environment Agency has a particular risk of skills loss …
6
Conclusion
We are concerned that the new Office for Environmental Protection will inherit a backlog of cases, and remain to be convinced that it will be sufficiently independent. It will take some months for the Office for Environmental Protection and its responsibilities for enforcing environmental law to be established fully under …
1
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (the Department), HM Treasury, Natural England and the Environment Agency about achieving government’s long-term environmental goals.1
7
Conclusion
Government has not yet met European Union concentration limits for nitrogen dioxide that had an original compliance deadline of 2010, and the UK was one of six member states referred to the European Court in May 2018 over non-compliance.15 In addition, the most recent update on Biodiversity 2020 targets showed …
8
Conclusion
To deliver government’s ambitions as set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (the Department) has lead responsibility for all environmental policy areas apart from climate change mitigation, for which the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has the policy lead. …
9
Conclusion
While the Plan sets out a whole-of-government commitment to improve the environment within a generation, the existing arrangements for joint working between departments on environmental issues are patchy, with no clear indications of senior ownership of the Plan outside the Department and its own arms-length bodies.19 The Department was the …
10
Conclusion
We asked the Department whether it has sufficient clout to manage trade-offs where there is competition between departments; and how it plans to bring to bear its responsibility for leading government to deliver on the Plan.25 The Department expects that the new cross-government group will expose difficult choices and trade-offs …
11
Conclusion
The Department received an additional £1 billion in funding for 2020–21 in the Spending Review, however it confirmed that this includes a previously announced increase in flood defence spending.29 It noted that the increase will allow for significant investment in other environmental areas, including tree planting and peatland restoration, however …
12
Conclusion
The Environment Agency and Natural England have a key role to play in delivering government’s environmental goals. Natural England confirmed that it has had its budget reduced by almost half in recent years which has affected its ability to meet demand for its services and deliver its work.31 As a …
13
Conclusion
There is no single point of responsibility within government for monitoring overall spend on environmental goals, and neither the Department nor the Treasury yet have a good understanding of the long-term costs involved in delivering the goals. Moreover, while the Department had started an analysis of spend by environmental goal …
14
Conclusion
Government needs to ensure that organisations have access to the skills and resources they require to play their part in delivering environmental goals.35 The Department told us that both scientific and project management skills are required to make progress, particularly in the Environment Agency and Natural England as key delivery …
15
Conclusion
We asked about the diversity of the workforce to deliver these environmental goals, and the Environment Agency noted the steps it has taken to improve diversity, for example going into technical institutes where there may be a higher proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates and offering apprenticeships to …
16
Conclusion
We asked the Department what its role is in relation to creating and retaining ‘green’ jobs. It told us that the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, established in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and initially funded to £40 million, has been extended in the recent Spending Review, and the fund doubled …
17
Conclusion
We asked the Treasury what it was doing to ensure departments factor the environment into their spending bids. Treasury told us that for the 2020 Spending Review it asked departments for an assessment of the contribution of their proposals towards delivering the UK’s statutory climate objectives in terms of emissions; …
18
Conclusion
Treasury told us that the extent to which departments appraise the environmental impact of what they are doing is variable, a good example being the Department for Transport which has worked closely with Defra and the Treasury on its programme to improve air quality in local authorities, and another being …
19
Conclusion
Treasury conceded that there is a long way to go before accounting for the environment is fully embedded within the spending review process and is on a level pegging with carbon emissions where there is a statutory budget-setting process. It said it needed to do more to ensure the guidance …
20
Conclusion
As the Office for Environmental Protection is yet to be established under the provisions of the Environment Bill, we asked the Department about interim arrangements for holding public bodies to account on environmental law. The Department told us that a secretariat is in place, and the Chair-Designate of the Office …
21
Conclusion
The interim secretariat will be able to make assessments around reported breaches of environmental law by public bodies. It will then be up to the Office to catch up on these 45 Q 20 46 HM Treasury, The Green Book: Central Government Guidance on Appraisal and Evaluation, 2020 47 Q …
22
Conclusion
In discussing the reporting obligations of the Office, the Department explained that it will report to Ministers, who can then be held to account by Parliament. We noted that this is in contrast to the Climate Change Committee, which must report directly to Parliament.55 The Department told us that Ministers …