Welcome to the Green Alliance podcast. We are the charity and think tank that is all about

achieving ambitious leadership for the environment. I'm Ruth Chambers and I've been working

with our partners in the Greener UK Coalition on our new environmental governance system.

This is being established through the Environment Bill, currently on hold until the next session of Parliament starts in May.

The bill will establish a new Green Watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection,

to watch over our environmental rulebook, to hold the government account,

and to work to bolster our environmental ambitions.

The delay to the Environment Bill means that the setting up of the new body, though, is also behind schedule.

Plans are now picking up pace, as the OEP will be established on an interim basis from the 1st of July,

allowing it to scrutinise the government in a more fully fledged and independent form. We're delighted to be joined today by Dame Glenys Stacey, the Chair Designate, in one of her first interviews since taking up her role.

Dame Glenys, thank you so much for joining us today. You're no stranger to holding government to account and bring a wealth of experience from

other regulatory bodies.

You've described your new role as one of the most important jobs of our time, dealing

with the most pressing issues of our time, and we couldn't agree with you more on that,

by the way.

To kick us off, could you sum up the

approach that you'll be taking at the OEP? And also, do you have any regulatory inspirations,

either people or other bodies? I very clearly want OEP to do the best possible job. And for me,

that really involves it being what I would call an intelligent

organisation, that is looking carefully at the breadth of its powers, its hard and soft powers,

thinking hard, having sort of foresight, hindsight, but also really clear sight, picking the big

issues, the issues of our day, looking across its breadth

...