Environment Agency and Natural England must become more efficient, says Defra

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has concluded that a merger of England's two environmental regulators would not be cost effective (60-page / 474KB PDF) as part of a formal review of the regulators work.

In his foreword to the review report, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said that businesses that worked with both bodies wanted a "more integrated and effective customer experience".

"I have therefore concluded in this review that the EA and NE should be retained as two separate public bodies with separate purposes and functions, but that both bodies should continue to reform how they deliver their services to their customers and drive further efficiencies," he said.

NE is responsible for protecting England's wildlife and natural environment. The EA is the government's principal environmental  regulator in England. Both bodies are statutory consultees for the purposes of planning applications, and both have a role advising local authorities on the environmental and flood risk aspects of proposed projects.

Particular areas of potential improvement highlighted by the review included better integration of the bodies' planning processes and land management capabilities. Although the two regulators  had already gone some way to streamline their processes and develop effective partnership working, the review said that more could be done to "further reduce regulatory burdens" and "secure back office reforms".

Defra will do more to hold the EA and NE to account, including requiring "regular" reports on their "collective progress to driving change in response to this Review", the review report  said. The leaders of the two bodies will be held to account for the delivery of the reforms through "a range of measures, including new performance measures", Defra said. However, both bodies will have discretion over "exactly how they will achieve these outcomes, as they are best placed to drive reform", it said.

In relation to planning, both the EA and NE increasingly provide direct advice to developers before they submit formal planning applications, according to the report. Although each body has "distinct and separate areas of responsibility related to their statutory functions", they both provide advice to a similar group of customers and carry out similar processes when providing this advice, Defra said.

Defra noted a "number of recent changes" made by the bodies to improve the joint delivery of their planning processes, however it said that they needed to do more to communicate these improvements and the services that they offer to developers. It said that they needed to work closely together so that "developers can have a single conversation with the range of organisations involved".

"Recognising that both bodies provide planning advice in a similar way and often engage with the same customers, there is potential to consolidate some of these activities to make more effective use of their resources," the report said. "The Government would like to see a seamless planning advice provided to developers on environmental issues, providing consistent and locally tailored advice early in the planning process."

"Building on the strength of the individual bodies' expertise, the Review expects the EA and NE to work together to continue to develop this approach, with increased commercial awareness," it said.

The EA and NE are expected to "work closely together, with support from Defra", to identify how best to consolidate their planning functions, the report said. This could include some consolidation of "back office" services such as IT, HR and administration, it said.

According to the review report , the land management roles of the two bodies do not particularly overlap. The EA deals with flood risk management and water quality and resources, while NE is responsible for biodiversity, landscape and access. However, Defra received evidence during the review process that their approach "could be more effective", particularly when they are advising and influencing the same customers, according to the report.

Defra has proposed that the EA and NE "better integrate their capability, expertise and systems" in relation to land management. They should do this through "cost-effective and innovative" online delivery tools, developing internal mechanisms to ensure a consistent approach and avoid conflicting advice, and the creation of joint performance indicators on land management outcomes, according to the report.

Both bodies are expected to produce a "plan for action" in response to the review this Autumn, to be followed by a progress report in June 2014, Defra said.