The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has presented its independent assessment of Government’s progress in improving the natural environment in accordance with its Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) for England in 2021/2022.
Of 32 trends assessed across the breadth of the natural environment; OEP found nine trends were improving, eleven were static, and eight were deteriorating. Of 23 environmental targets assessed, the assessment found none where Government’s progress was demonstrably on track.
OEP Chair Dame Glenys Stacey said:
Chair of the OEP, Dame Glenys Stacey
“Progress on delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan has fallen far short of what is needed to meet Government’s ambition to leave the environment in a better state for future generations.
“There have been recent improvements in air quality and people’s engagement with nature, as Covid lockdowns changed the way we live our lives. But many extremely worrying environmental trends remain unchecked, including a chronic decline in species abundance.
“Our assessment shows that the current pace and scale of action will not deliver the changes necessary to significantly improve the environment in England. But there is clear opportunity to change course.
The OEP’s monitoring report, published 19 January 2023, identifies a number of key themes to help improve future delivery of the EIP. These include: better alignment and co-ordination at all levels of Government, local and national, with actions that extend beyond Defra; better targeted and timely data collection and collation, with the goals of the EIP in mind; and improved assessment of progress, with a purpose-driven monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework.
This report identifies eight attributes that in our view will mean the next EIP is effective. An EIP should:
clearly translate vision into policies, commitments and actions for the whole of government
establish clear and simple governance arrangements that drive delivery on the ground
have a unifying overall delivery plan and one for each goal area
set and pursue clear and achievable interim targets that are as ambitious as possible in the areas needing most attention
make clear use of robust and current data and analyses that are well aligned with all targets
establish an evaluation framework and use it to generate feedback on actions and progress, to learn and to improve delivery
use enhanced understanding to diagnose the cause of adverse trends, identify the most urgent, harmful or widespread concerns, and develop effective and timely responses
develop assessment regimes that look more to the future
These are supported by five recommendations that build on 16 made in a previous EIP monitoring report, ‘Taking Stock: protecting, restoring and improving the environment in England’.
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