Catalogue description Records of the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency was created under the Environment Act 1995, and became fully operational in April 1996. It assumed responsibility for the functions of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) and the National Rivers Authority (NRA). The Agency also took on a small number of units from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions dealing with aspects of waste regulation and contaminated land, as well as the waste regulatory functions of 83 local authorities, including the London Waste Regulatory Authority.

On its creation the Environment Agency's main sponsor in government was the Department of the Environment, with sponsorship links to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) for flood and coastal defence issues and fisheries functions. In addition the Welsh Office sponsored Agency activities in Wales. In June 1997 sponsorship transferred to the new Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), and in 1999 the National Assembly for Wales took over Environment Agency activities in Wales. In June 2001 the new Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) became the Agency's parent department.

The Environment Agency is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB). Its Board is appointed by Ministers, through whom it is accountable to Parliament. The Environment Agency is organised in three tiers - Head Office, National and 14 areas. Head Office is responsible for setting policies and standards to ensure a consistent national approach and has a major role in financial control. Operational activities are carried out at regional and area level. The Environment Agency also contains National Services and Centres. National Services are specialist support services for the organisation, where it is considered more efficient to have only one Service providing for the organisation as a whole. National Centres are internationally recognised centres of expertise and excellence.