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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he will take to ensure Office of Environmental Protection staff have adequate knowledge and experience of Northern Ireland’s legislation and practices.

Environmental policy is largely a devolved matter. Northern Ireland officials requested to make options available to ensure that environmental governance in Northern Ireland can be safeguarded after the UK’s departure from the EU. We are working in conjunction with officials in DAERA to ensure the forthcoming Environment Bill enables the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) to provide effective oversight of the environment in Northern Ireland should the Executive in Northern Ireland agree to it.

Executive officials’ agreement to extension of the Bill is on the basis of a default position that decisions on implementation will be left for returning Ministers and subject to the requisite Assembly scrutiny procedures.

If a Northern Ireland executive decides to use the OEP in the future, it will then be for the OEP to work with the Executive to address any issues specific to the needs of Northern Ireland.