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The Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) has been blamed for delaying and obstructing the work of the body tasked with regulating environmental regulation.
Senior figures at the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) have bemoaned the “deeply uncomfortable” length of time Defra takes to respond to requests for information.
In some cases, the OEP is still waiting for information requested almost two years ago.
The chair of the OEP Glenys Stacey said a better working relationship with Defra together with more resources for staffing would enable the organisation to better carry out its work.
“We don’t find Defra is as cooperative as we would expect them to be,” Stacey told the Environmental Audit Committee. She explained this had in turn delayed her organisation’s ability to publish time sensitive reports.
Chief executive of the OEP, Natalie Prosser, added that information requested in April 2022 had not yet been supplied.
She denied the relationship between the two bodies was antagonistic, but said there were “rubbing points” to obtaining information.
She reported delays of up to two years to receive information on a matter of complaint and described an obstructive attitude “that the OEP was not entitled to core information if it was not already in the public domain”.
As well as more cooperative working relationships with Defra, Glenys said additional resourcing – especially extra staff – would allow the organisation to undertake more work.
The body has requested extra staff from Defra to be able to carry out its work. Without an extra circa 20 recruits, Stacey said the work the OEP could carry out would be restricted.
She told the committee that “there was no lack of work” that the organisation should be carrying out if it was better resourced.
The OEP was formed two years ago to bridge the gap left by leaving the European Union to ensure central and devolved governments were meeting statutory commitments and have sufficient work underway to meet future targets.
Its first investigation, launched in 2022, was into the roles of Ofwat and the Environment Agency in monitoring and regulating discharges from wastewater company assets. Prosser said the OEP was close to concluding this investigation, which it hoped to resolve swiftly.
Last year, the OEP called out Defra for missing deadlines to complete legally required reviews of environmental laws. Reviews must be carried out within a set period after new legislation has been introduced, however the OEP found these were not completed for 49 out of 56 laws Defra was due to review.
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