We have been clear that the office for environmental protection will be an arm’s-length body that must be fully independent. We wanted to make sure that the appointment of the chair is subject to pre-appointment hearings, so that the members of the House of Commons have absolute confidence in the politics and independence of that individual. The chair will appoint the chief executive and will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the organisation.
We also wanted to ensure that the body has sufficient funding to be able to discharge its functions without feeling that it is in any way constrained. We are publishing guidance to give further effect to that.
More broadly, in relation to fines—this is an open question, but it is a legitimate area of debate—the infraction proceedings that can be brought against members of the European Union have had an effect in maintaining a high level of environmental protection. I do not think that anyone denies that, but it involves a supranational fining of national Governments for their failure to adhere to the rules. If we had fines that were applied within a nation or state, what would happen to those fines? For example, we could have a situation in which my department or the Ministry of Defence was found not to have lived up to its obligations and a fine was imposed. The money would go to the Treasury, so we would in effect be shifting money between Government accounts.
There are others who say that we could have a system of fines whereby the money that comes from a particular Government department goes into a fund for environmental improvement. These are open questions. It is also the case that we could force compliance with the rules without necessarily having fines. We are exploring whether there should be a new system of environmental law tribunals, not to mirror but to emulate some of the good work that immigration and employment tribunals do, by developing a body of expertise in the legal profession that ensures that we have rapid adherence to regulations and laws that guarantee environmental protection. Ultimately, it might be that the High Court could impose a requirement on the Government to change its ways, and if that Government—whether it is the UK Government or any other—refused to comply, the relevant minister or cabinet secretary would be in breach of the law, with all the consequences that follow.