2025 Registrant Impact | Holding government to account

Holding government to account

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) work to protect and improve the environment by holding government and public authorities to account against their environmental commitments.  

This year I led two areas of work looking at implementation of certain aspects of environmental law in England. Both produced reports that were laid before Parliament. These reports contain analysis, findings and recommendations to government, which they must then respond to. 

Our early review of the implementation of Environmental Principles Policy Statement (EPPS) duty in England (February 2025), has helped to raise the profile of the duty in Parliament. A good example of this has been the reference to our report in the recent Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) report on its inquiry into Environmental Sustainability and Housing Growth. Government responded to our report (May 2025) and undertook its own review of the duty (November 2025) which closely aligned to much of our earlier critique. 

A few months later (July 2025), we published our review into the role of Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) in achieving national nature recovery commitments. Government responded to our report in October and set out a number of commitments in response to our recommendations, including updating the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the creation of national product of aggregated LNRS, and clarity around the ongoing governance and resources for these important local strategies.