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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to develop a methodology to assess in regulatory impact assessments of new environmental protection measures the economic benefits of high environmental standards in order to implement the new Cabinet Office guidance Better Policy Making: A Guide to Regulatory Impact; and what category of benefits his Department will include when developing such a methodology. [100605] Mr. Morley: In the new Cabinet Office guidance Better Policy Making: A Guide to Regulatory Impact Assessment, consideration of the potential dynamic benefits of higher environmental standards is required when assessing the benefits of proposed policy. The importance of considering these potential benefits was raised by Defra during the consultation period. The new guidance also states that quantifying these benefits is difficult, given the high level of uncertainty surrounding them in the future. For this reason the Department's approach in implementing the Cabinet Office guidance will focus on promoting good practice in policy making, giving particular emphasis to the importance of undertaking early informal consultation with stakeholders. This is entirely consistent with the new Cabinet Office guidance which gives increased emphasis to stakeholder consultation and to integrating into the policy process those who have an informed understanding of the potential economic benefits of a particular policy. The Integrated Policy Appraisal tool, a structured format for assessing the economic, social and environmental impacts of a proposed policy, is currently being piloted in Defra. Active consideration is being given to developing this to cover in more detail the economic benefits of high environmental standards. On the assessment of environmental benefits, Defra, and a number of other Government Departments, are at the forefront of work to develop and apply new methodologies. An up-to-date assessment of this work is provided in Annex 2 of the Treasury's new Green Book on policy appraisal and evaluation at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media//78872/Green Book2 03.pdf

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

100605; 401 c140-1W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Codes of practice Environment protection Standards Impact assessments

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk