Environmental regulation

Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent, whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should determine how it will make the most of whatever Parliamentary time is available for legislative change, and what alternative methods it can use to make improvements;

Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent, whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: [ilot joint working for smaller projects or planning applications, based on learnings from the ?lead environmental regulator? approach currently being developed for major infrastructure projects; and

Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent, whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: a work with the regulators to set a plan for how existing change programmes and new reforms ? including digital change ? will link together, so that they prioritise changes that can unlock the greatest gains and are planned and delivered in a coherent way. This should set out dependencies between actions, milestones for delivery, resource requirements and governance arrangements;

Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent, whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: update funding and performance mechanisms to place greater emphasis on the extent to which the work of the regulators addresses environmental harm, rather than what activities they are doing;

Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent, whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: investigate new approaches to sharing data including, for example, using open data and licensing models or trialling projects for data sharing between regulators that cover the same sectors;

Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent, whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: define its risk appetite and the support it will provide to regulators if risks materialise, to support a culture of change and innovation.

Alongside developing their approach to major reforms, the regulators have opportunities to improve environmental regulation at an operational level. They should, over the next year: g prioritise building their capability around information and data that supports regulatory decision making and making best use of all regulatory tools: this should include: ? more robust and consistent ways to assess and triage intelligence and identify where risks are greatest, and whether issues are best dealt with by local officers or national teams; ? a more systematic approach to evaluating the impact of different regulatory approaches; and ? working with Defra to ensure key decisions on, for example, resourcing and regulatory priorities are based on an assessment of total costs across the whole system including, for example, future costs of remedial clean-up activities if pollution and non-compliance increase;

Alongside developing their approach to major reforms, the regulators have opportunities to improve environmental regulation at an operational level. They should, over the next year: work with Defra to make guidance easier to find and use, including developing real-world examples and scenarios alongside general guidance to support regulated entities to comply;

Alongside developing their approach to major reforms, the regulators have opportunities to improve environmental regulation at an operational level. They should, over the next year: ensure they have systematic ways to incorporate the views of both front?line regulatory staff and regulated entities in the design of future operational processes and changes; they should also use these operational perspectives to support ongoing reform programmes.