House of Commons - Environmental Audit

Select Committee on Environmental Audit Minutes of Evidence

Supplementary Memorandum submitted by the Green Alliance

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING IN 1998 DEPARTMENTAL ANNUAL REPORTS

1. Sixteen Departments identified their current Green Minister (failures were: Scottish Office, DFID, Home Office); six identified taking account of the environment in policy making as being a responsibility of its Green Minister; FCO stated that responsibilities were green housekeeping and procurement.

2. For the first time the DTI referred to its Green Minister as being responsible for ensuring that sustainable development considerations were factored into policies; it was the only Department to do so.

3. Not one Department attempted to outline the activities of its Green Minister—not even the Scottish Office which was the only Department to have done so last year, nor DETR which could have used this as an opportunity to set a good example.

4. Recommendation: A summary of the activities of a Department's Green Minister should be included in the Annual Report, with particular emphasis placed on detailing the systems that have been established within the Department to ensure that environmental considerations are being factored into policies and operations.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

5. In common with Annual Reports of 1997, eight Departments explicitly referred to the importance of the environment and/or sustainable development in their aims or objectives.[6] The Treasury's aim "to raise the rate of sustainable growth, and achieve rising prosperity, through creating economic and employment opportunities for all" is ambiguous given different economic interpretations of "sustainable".

6. HM Customs and Excise and DOH both noted that their aims and objectives took account of the Government's aims of fostering economic growth and sustainable development—however, it was not evident in the articulation itself.

7. A continuing problem is the failure for environmental/sustainable development considerations to be adequately reflected, if at all, in the aims and objectives of all relevant policy directorates or programmes. Notable failures were: Housing Divisions of DETR and Scottish Office; Education Divisions of Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh Offices. Notable improvements were DETR (for the first time one of the Government's transport related aims refers to the need to reduce transport growth; and its planning related aim now explicitly refers to promoting development which is "sustainable").

8. Recommendation: Department's need to find ways to clearly express their commitment to the Government's cross-cutting objectives, such as placing concern for the environment and sustainable development at the heart of decision-making, up front with their mission statement and overarching aims and objectives. Such expressions should be consistent with the definition of "sustainable development" contained in the Sustainable Development Strategy.

9. Recommendation: Departments need to seek to ensure that relevant divisional and programme aims and objectives adequately address environmental/sustainable development considerations.
(The ongoing Comprehensive Spending Review, which means that departmental aims and objectives are provisional pending outcomes of reviews, provides an ideal opportunity to address these issues.)

POLICY

10. Integral to the reports of DETR (compared to DOE and DOT), DTI and DFID (compared to ODA) was a far greater emphasis on sustainable development considerations than last year. Notable examples were: DETR Planning Directorate's emphasis on "finding sustainable solutions to demands for housing and transport"; and the fact that the terms of reference of DTI's review of utility regulation included promoting the Government's objectives for environment and sustainable development.

11. To a lesser degree MAFF, Northern Ireland and the Scottish Office also referred more to sustainable development considerations.

12. Of the remaining Departments that we would expect to be integrating explicit discussion of sustainable development, it was particularly disappointing that the Treasury did not.

13. The reports of MAFF and DFID (following on from ODA), continued to strongly reflect an integrated approach to reporting environmental considerations. There were also notable improvements in the transport chapters of DETR's report and certain chapters of DTI's report.

14. A new emphasis on an integrated approach to transport policy was also present in the Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh Office reports.

15. In the context of policy/programme appraisal only two Departments referred specifically to appraisals of environmental considerations that had been undertaken—HM Customs and Excise (landfill tax), and DCMS (which was actually of a project).

16. Key areas of policy that continue to fail to refer to environmental considerations include: education divisions of Scottish Office, Northern Ireland and Welsh Office; DETR's Housing Directorate; and DTI's Small Firms and Business Links work.

17. Recommendation: Annual Reports should indicate those policies or programmes that have been appraised for their environmental implications.

18. Recommendation: 1999 Annual Reports of all Department's, not just the territorials and DETR, should show how the sustainable transport agenda is being reflected in their policy-making (not just in their own operations).

19. Recommendation: All Annual Reports should highlight where and how the department can contribute to sustainable development in its policy-making.

20. Recommendation: In developing indicators for sustainable development the Government should include indicators that will assist departments to monitor and report progress (in their annual reports and elsewhere) against the sustainable development agenda.