Many MPs feel let down with the Government’s progress to tackle environmental problems such as air pollution and wildlife loss. The Government pledged to be the first generation to leave England’s natural environment in a better state than it inherited, nine years ago. Progress to meet the goal has been “disappointing”, the Public Accounts Committee said.
The parliamentary committee warned the Government did not have a good grasp of the total cost of meeting its green goals, and funding for measures to improve the natural environment had been “piecemeal”, shows a recent report.
The environmental impacts had not been taken into account in spending decisions, the MPs on the committee warned.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee is warning that time is running out for the Government to progress its ambition to improve the natural environment “within a generation” and that it must “move on from aspirational words” and start “taking the hard decisions.”
The Government first set its ambition to improve the natural environment “within a generation” in 2011, but nine years on the Public Accounts Committee says “progress is disappointing” and that the complexity of environmental issues “is not a good enough excuse” for serious delays in tackling “critical environmental issues like air quality, water quality and wildlife loss” where the pace has been “painfully slow”.
The comments are among wide-ranging criticisms the Public Accounts Committee is levelling at the Government in its newly-published Fortieth Report – Achieving government’s long-term environmental goals.
The Committee said that the 25 Year Environment Plan, published seven years later in 2018, claimed again to set out how Government will improve the environment “within a generation” – but it does not contain a coherent set of long-term objectives or interim milestones. In addition, the responsible Department, Defra, does not have “the clout to lead the rest of government … hold other departments to account or manage trade-offs between policy areas”.
The MPs on the Committee say the Government still does not understand the total costs of delivering its environmental goals, funding has been piecemeal and environmental impacts are still not being taken into account in spending decisions.
“Not clear how much of an additional total £1 billion promised to Defra in the 2020 Spending Review is genuinely new money” etc.
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