The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has issued a series of recommendations to the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). The three-month review was concluded in July 2022 and formed a part of the Government’s Public Bodies Review Programme.
The review was conducted to ensure the fledgling body was efficient, accountable, well-governed and aligned with the Government’s priorities, as well as to establish its long-term resource requirements.
12 recommendations have been made to the OEP, mostly to improve administration and governance processes. Notably, Defra has recommended that the OEP agrees on a memorandum with its equivalent bodies in Scotland and Wales by March 2023.
Defra has also recommended that it reviews the OEP’s budget and permitted headcount ahead of the next financial year. It noted that Defra does not currently have a system to benchmark its costs for future comparison, stating that overall the body needed to develop a digital, data and technology strategy by December 2022.
In terms of governance, the review identified that the board’s declarations of interests register has not yet been published and states this must be published by September 2022. Alongside this, the body needs to develop its post-employment rules and procedures for board members which will be monitored by Defra and the chair of the OEP.
The report did not indicate a need for further review at this stage. A full version of the review and recommendations can be found online.
The Environment Act 2021 and the OEP
The OEP was set up under the Environment Act 2021 after the UK left the EU and acts as an independent body to ensure the UK meets its environmental targets. After six months in shadow form, it was brought into full operation in January 2022. It replaces the role of the European Commission.
The Environment Act 2021 originally passed through Parliament after facing questions by MPs regarding the independence of the OEP. Defra promised that ‘by freeing ourselves from future changes to EU law’ the UK would be able to look beyond the EU’s targets and ‘lead the way at home and abroad to deliver global environmental change’.
An amendment was added to the Act in October 2020 which allowed Defra’s Secretary of State to issue and revise enforcement guidance to the OEP. In December MPs confirmed Dame Glenys Stacey as Chair of the OEP and requested she continue to look into the independence of the body.
The OEP’s directive is to contribute to the Environment Act by providing the Government with the required legal advice for instances in which legislation is breached. The body is also intended to collaborate with public authorities in order to enforce compliance, as well as reviewing and reporting on the Government’s progress towards meeting environmental targets.
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