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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to conduct a review of environmental compliance obligations.

Defra complies with the Better Regulation Framework alongside HMT’s Green Book and Magenta Book principles. Where required, Defra will conduct post implementation reviews (PIRs) of legislation.

The Chancellor’s Action Plan, published 17 March 2025, is supported by Defra. In that plan we have already committed to take actions relating to environmental and planning regulation, amongst other things. We want to ensure our regulatory system becomes more flexible, coherent and innovation-friendly to support new infrastructure and development, whilst upholding our protections for the environment and local communities.