Part 1: Environmental Governance Chapter 1: Improving the natural environment Section 7: Environmental targets: review
Section 7 sets out the procedure for the Secretary of State to conduct a periodic review of all targets set under sections 1, 2 and 3.
	Subsection (1) sets out the requirement for the Secretary of State to conduct the review. Subsection (2) clarifies that the purpose of the review is to consider whether the significant improvement test is met.
	Subsection (3) explains that the significant improvement test is met where meeting the targets set under sections 1, 2 and 3, and any other environmental targets that the Secretary of State considers appropriate to consider, would bring about a significant improvement in the natural environment in England. Subsection (8) sets out certain requirements that those other environmental targets must meet to be capable of consideration.
	Subsection (4) provides that, following the conclusion of the review, the Secretary of State must publish, and lay before Parliament, a report confirming whether the Secretary of State considers that the significant improvement test has been met. Where the Secretary of State considers that the test has not been met, the report must set out the steps the Secretary of State proposes to take, using the powers in section 1, 2 and 3, to ensure that it is met. In addition to identifying potential new targets, the report might also acknowledge, for example, the need for more research in a particular policy area in order to examine the possibility of developing a target in future.
	Subsection (5) sets out that the Secretary of State must complete the first significant improvement test review by 31 January 2023.
	Subsection (6) provides that, following the first review, future reviews must be conducted at intervals of no more than five years. Subsection (7) confirms that a review is completed when the Secretary of State publishes, and lays before Parliament, a report under subsection (4).
	Subsection (8) sets out the conditions that a target set otherwise than under sections 1, 2 and 3 must meet in order to be capable of consideration by the Secretary of State under subsection (3)(b). In broad terms, those targets must meet the same standards as targets set under sections 1, 2 and 3. These conditions include the need for a target to have an objectively measurable standard to be achieved by a specific date.
	The National Emission Ceilings Regulations 2018 targets are examples of those that may be taken into consideration under the conditions set out in subsection (8). These targets relate to reductions in total anthropogenic emissions of five key air pollutants in the UK by 2030.
	Subsection (9) provides that "England", for the purposes of section 7, includes the English inshore region and the English offshore region (each as defined in section 322 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009).