The UK’s environment watchdog has closed another of its three investigations into the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera).

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) had already found that Daera had failed to comply with environmental law by failing to publish an Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) by the July 2023 statutory deadline.

The EIP was approved by the executive and published in September 2024.

The OEP said that ended that breach of the law and closed the investigation.

The OEP’s role will now move to scrutiny of progress on the EIP.