EPIC Webinar: OEP report on EA waste inspections

In May 2026 the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) will lay a report in Parliament focusing on inspections at waste operations and installations by the Environment Agency (EA). A core purpose of this work was to understand the basis of the EA’s reported figure that 97% of regulated sites are compliant. The OEP spent over two years examining how the legal framework for environmental inspections operates in practice, including the extent to which inspections support the identification and resolution of serious non‑compliance and how risk‑based regulation is planned, delivered, and monitored by the EA. They considered the quality and effectiveness of inspections at permitted sites by looking at a sample of officers’ reports (CAR forms) produced following every inspection and testing whether officers followed the EA’s operational guidance.

This webinar will consist of a talk on the reports key findings by Ray Purdy and Jamie Hayes of the OEP, followed by a question-and-answer session.

Our speakers

Jamie Hayes

Jamie Hayes is a Principal Investigator at the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). He previously spent ten years at the Environment Agency, working across regulated industry with a particular focus on poorly performing sites, general waste regulation, and, more recently, installations. 

Ray Purdy

Ray Purdy is Head of Legal Research and Analysis at the OEP. Before that, he held senior research positions in environmental law at the University of Oxford, University College London, and Imperial College between 1995 and 2022. 

Banner image: © SpaceOak via Adobe Stock