Environment Bill

(asked on 26th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish guidance on the interpretation of the significant improvement test set out in Clause 6 of the Environment Bill.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 8th March 2021

The requirements for the significant improvement test are laid out in Clause 6 of the Environment Bill. The Government must periodically review its targets by carrying out the significant improvement test at least every five years. The Secretary of State must consider whether meeting the long-term targets and the PM 2.5 target set under the Environment Bill, together with any other relevant statutory environmental targets, would significantly improve the natural environment in England. The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament, and publish, a report on its conclusions and, if it considers that the test is not met, set out how it plans to use its target-setting powers to close the gap.

The Government is considering how to implement the significant improvement test and the first iteration will be conducted by 31 January 2023. In our policy paper published in August 2020, we outlined that, when we are developing targets, we will consider how they will inform the Significant Improvement Test.

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