The Environmental Audit Committee has published a report
reflecting on its activity throughout the 2019-2024 Parliament.
The Committee was appointed in February 2020 to consider the
extent to which government departments and non-departmental
public bodies contribute to environmental protection and
sustainable development, and to audit their performance against
targets set by Ministers.
During this Parliament, the Committee made 23 reports to the
House, and published 18 Government responses to its reports. It
published 34 letters sent from the Chair to Cabinet Ministers,
heard from Secretaries of State on 11 occasions and published
2231 submissions of written evidence.
The Committee did not complete its work on three inquiries: on
the UK and the Antarctic environment, on climate change and
security and on the role of natural capital in the green economy.
It recommends that the Committee in the new Parliament take up
work on these issues.
The Committee makes two recommendations for the next
administration to take up. It recommends that in the new
Parliament Ministers publish a report on the implementation and
operation of the Environment Act 2021, to inform post-legislative
scrutiny of that Act during the Parliament.
It also recommends that the Committee's proposals for
parliamentary scrutiny of the Seventh Carbon Budget, as set out
in the Chair's letter to
the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero of 6
February 2024, be implemented in full.
