Research done by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has concluded that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has not consistently completed reviews of environmental laws.
The legally-required post implementation reviews (PIRs) of environmental laws are used to monitor and evaluate how environmental and other laws are working.
According to the OEP’s research, 56 PIRs are required by Defra and seven are not yet due. For the remaining 49, none have been completed or completed before the deadline.
Dame Glenys Stacey, OEP chair, said: “Defra and other government departments have consistently failed to meet the legal requirements for these reports, and these failures appear to be widespread and longstanding.
“Government should monitor and evaluate how environmental and other relevant laws are working.
“It is important for parliamentary accountability and wider scrutiny. And it allows government to see in good time the extent to which the law and its implementation are sufficiently effective.
“There is strength and value here, in applying a consistent, systematic, and timely approach to evaluation, and in publishing the outcome.”
For government to stay on-course to meet its ambition for the environment, it must keep track of how the law is working, Stacey said.
Other departments
The OEP said the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) completed four out of six of its required reports late.
Six required reports have not been completed.
The Department for Transport has not completed the one report identified where the due date has passed, the OEP said.
The OEP called for the government departments responsible for relevant environmental laws to publish their outstanding post-implementation review reports as soon as possible.
Stacey said the information and insight from the reports is relevant and essential when the government is reviewing and making decisions about the future of environmental law.
“There is now the potential for significant changes to environmental law, most notably through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, but also through other draft legislation such as the Energy Bill and the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill,” she said.
“Government must formally respond to this report. We would expect it to provide reassurance as to how these failures will be rectified and reviews prioritised.
“We will keep this matter under review.”
