The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) today argues that there
is no reason for any further delay to the roll-out of the
Government’s Environmental Principles, which are intended to be
binding on policymakers across many areas of central government.
The Government has been designing its environmental principles
for over four years. Now that the requirement on policymakers to
observe environmental principles has been enacted in the
Environment Act 2021, there is concern that further delay in
implementation will risk principles being sidestepped by
Whitehall rather than embraced.
EAC is calling for rapid finalisation and implementation of the
policy statement presented to Parliament in May 2022. The
Government must deliver on its ambition for the policy statement
to be finalised and embedded across government policymaking, as
Parliament intended, not later than the autumn of 2022.
However, for this to happen, the new Government formed by the
incoming Prime Minister must get a rapid grip on implementation.
The UK was previously obliged to follow environmental principles
in the EU Treaties and is still bound by a number of
international agreements on environmental protection. Brexit
offered a significant opportunity to shape the implementation of
environmental principles to domestic circumstances while
maintaining a high level of protection for wildlife and the
environment. For example, finalising the environmental principles
policy statement presents an opportunity for Ministers to give
substantive effect to the polluter pays principle when making
policy for England.
In June 2022 the Environment Secretary told the Committee that
the Government wished to depart from the European Commission’s
implementation of environmental principles in the Treaties.
However, there is little detail about how the Government plans to
implement the new statutory duty on policymakers in
practice. EAC’s examination of the draft policy statement
has identified significant gaps between the Government’s apparent
aspirations and the expectations of many engaged in environmental
protection.
Once the principles have been issued, and the statutory duty on
policymakers to observe them has been commenced, EAC is calling
on Ministers to commit to a review of their implementation by the
autumn of 2023 to understand how the principles are being
implemented in practice. Ministers should submit worked examples
to the review across a range of government departments and policy
areas, including at least one policy area—such as defence or
taxation—where the statutory requirement does not apply but
policymakers are observing the principles voluntarily.
EAC is concerned that the Government has rejected the Office for
Environmental Protection’s (OEP) advice to strengthen the draft
principles in certain areas, for instance in the interpretation
of the precautionary principle. In its advice to Ministers,
the OEP raised
concerns that the draft policy statement suggested a
narrow approach to applying the precautionary principle. EAC has
recommended that Ministers heed the OEP’s advice in full.
Specifically, EAC calls on the Government to strengthen its
implementation of the prevention principle, by advising
policymakers to apply preventative measures “without delay and as
soon as possible” where environmental harm is already occurring.
Chair's comments
Environmental Audit Committee chairman, Rt Hon MP, said:
“The environmental principles policy statement has been over four
years in the making. The Government must not continue to drag its
feet over the implementation of this important element of the
Environment Act. It is a major post-Brexit opportunity, to
champion environmental protection at home. Yet this potential win
from Brexit risks being squandered while Ministers figure out how
the principles ought to be implemented in Whitehall. There is
absolutely no reason, after such time has elapsed, for there to
be any further delay in making the principles binding on
policymakers.
“The Committee calls for the rapid implementation of the
Environmental Principles across Whitehall policymaking this
Autumn. Any delay in doing so will simply see the important
principles, which Parliament intended to be the foundation of
environmental protection, being sidestepped rather than
embraced.
“I look forward to the timely publication of the new Government’s
finalised policy statement and the swift commencement of the
statutory duty on policymakers to observe them. The Committee
stands ready to examine how the principles have been implemented
in practice once they have been in operation for 12 months.”
