A review of three key climate-related organisations has found their risk-adversity is only part of the problem – technological upgrades are also urgently needed.
According to Britain’s public sector spending watchdog, the National Audit Agency, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency, and Natural England must take comprehensive steps to modernise or risk becoming increasingly ineffective.
The three organisations are collectively responsible for more than 3,000 individual pieces of legislation, including enforcement and essential compliance assessments. Despite this huge workload, all departments have seen resources cut over the last decade, and this is compounded by a failure to update and upgrade IT systems, a move which could expedite numerous processes.
While this is beginning to change, with Labour allocated an additional £300 million from the 2025 Spending Review for Defra to overhaul its ageing technology infrastructure, modernisation has historically been slow. Meanwhile, the regulatory arms – Environment Agency and Natural England – continue to perform poorly partly because IT infrastructure is not fit for purpose.
The NAO also suggested that a fear of legal challenges has nurtured a culture of risk adversity, which is also preventing the regulators from functioning as designed. You can find the full review, published today, Friday 9th January 2026, here.
‘The government intends for the regulatory system to both protect the environment and enable economic growth, but it is not working as effectively as it could. The current system is complex and outdated,’ said Gareth Davies, Head of the National Audit Office.
‘Defra and the regulators are working to improve how they regulate, including in response to recent major reviews. Success will depend on taking a sufficiently strategic approach and sticking to the course set,’ he continued.
Image: Md Riduwan Molla / Unsplash
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