Part 1: Environmental Governance Chapter 1: Improving the natural environment Section 19: Policy statement on environmental principles: effect
Section 19 sets out the legal duty on Ministers of the Crown in using the environmental principles policy statement. It also details the relevant exemptions to the duty to have due regard to the policy statement.
	Subsection (1) requires Ministers to have due regard to the environmental principles policy statement when making policies included in the scope of the duty (in other words, policy that is not excluded). This means that, when making policy, Ministers of the Crown must consider the environmental principles policy statement with substance, rigour and an open mind.
	Subsection (2) sets out that the policy statement does not require Ministers to take, or refrain from taking, any action that would have no significant environmental benefit, or if the environmental benefit would be disproportionate when compared to other factors.
	In this context:
"Significant" is to be understood as meaning ‘not negligible’. This means that the policy statement does not need to be used to change a policy direction, if the environmental impact would be negligible.
"Disproportionate" indicates situations in which action would not be reflective of the benefit or costs, environmental or otherwise. Action taken must reflect the potential for environmental benefit, as well as other costs and benefits. For example, there is no need for a Minister to change a policy in light of the principles policy statement if the cost of this change would be very high and the benefit to the environment would be very low. Equally, if the potential environmental benefit is high, then it is proportionate to take a more significant action based on the policy statement.
	Subsection (3) sets out which policies are excluded from the duty to have due regard to the policy statement. The three areas covered are set out in paragraphs (a) to (c).
	The exclusion in subsection (3)(a) refers to armed forces, defence and national security policy. For example, policies that would be excluded include:
Armed Forces policies relating to the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Army, and the Royal Air Force; and
national security policies, such as the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review.
	In subsection (3)(b), "taxation" refers to taxes in a legal sense, and therefore does not include other regulatory schemes which involve fees and charges for purposes other than taxation, such as the plastic bag charge or the imposition of fees to cover the cost of a regulatory regime. "Spending or the allocation of resources within government" refers to decisions about how money and resources are allocated to or between government departments or agencies, including at fiscal events such as Budgets and Spending Reviews. It does not refer to individual policies on which the government funds could be spent. For example, in decisions on which departments should receive funds and how much, the policy statement will not apply. However, it would apply to policies which relate to spending this allocated funding which are decided by a Minister of the Crown, such as when setting up a new innovation scheme.
	Subsection (3)(c) sets out that the duty in subsection (1) does not apply to policy relating to or applying in Wales.
	Subsection (4) provides that the duty in subsection (1) applies when making policy in Scotland only on reserved matters.
	Subsection (5) clarifies that section 14(2) of the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 (asp 4) does not apply to Ministers of the Crown when making policy relating to reserved matters in Scotland.
	Subsection (6) confirms that the term "reserved matters" has the same meaning as that set out in the Scotland Act 1998.