House of Commons - Environmental Audit

Select Committee on Environmental Audit Second Report

GREENING GOVERNMENT REPORT

Housekeeping

112. Government departments were first required to produce an environmental strategy by the end of 1992 [144]— and by May 1994 it was confirmed that all had prepared Green Housekeeping Strategies[145]. The former Department of the Environment took a lead researching practices and products to be used, consulting with other departments on this and disseminating guidance and DETR has continued this work.

113. In memoranda submitted to this Committee in March 1998 all departments confirmed that they still had an environmental policy in place. Some departments set out how this policy was supported by annual action plans or action plans for parts of the organisation.[146] Although it was disappointing to see from the memoranda that some departments had not revised their environmental policy since it was first introduced there were also welcome signs of this Government's commitment to the greening of operations in statements made by many that they were reviewing their policy.[147] We were particularly pleased to see DETR launch its new Model Policy Statement and its Model Improvement Programme which departments can follow or refer to in revision of their policies.[148] And we welcome the advice in the Model Policy Statement that departments should make a commitment to a three-yearly review of their policy.

114. Under the last Government there was only one government wide target for improved environmental performance and that was to increase energy efficiency — initially the target was to achieve a 15 per cent improvement on 1990-91 levels by 1995-96, and it has now been extended to a target of 20 per cent improvement by 1999-2000. In addition the last Government made a commitment that two-thirds of departments would set targets for reducing their solid waste by the end of 1996.[149]

115. Mr Prescott and Mr Meacher have both emphasised to this Committee their enthusiasm for the use of targets and indicators as a tool for achieving improved performance. The Green Ministers Committee in July 1997 asked officials to consider further targets and policies for ensuring departments and their agencies are operated sustainably, for example in energy and water saving, waste minimisation, procurement and staff commuting plans.[150]

116. Green Ministers' memoranda to the Committee showed that all departments had set targets for energy efficiency and six reported having set targets related to reducing waste sent to landfill.[151] No other quantitative targets were reported although some were working on developing new targets, for example the Department for Social Security was hoping to set a target for a reduction in fuel use by staff ;[152] and DETR was working to set targets for reduced water use.[153] In addition departments reported targets to stop using particular products, such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons or peat, and to undertake certain actions by a given date, for example phasing out the incineration of waste at prison establishments by 1995.[154]

117. We are encouraged that in further evidence to this Committee it appeared that Green Ministers were actively promoting the use of targets as an aid to accountability. Mr Battle said he was definitely in favour of setting targets for housekeeping activities and his supplementary memorandum stated that the department's policy had already been revised to include targets for toner cartridges and recycling of paper.[155] MAFF told us that it had not set a target for reducing its solid waste because it has reservations about the practicality and resource implications of doing so. But in its supplementary memorandum the department confirmed that it had further targets under consideration, including a target for paper recycling.[156] However we did also note some reluctance: Mr Spellar told us he considered setting a simple mathematical formula for a target could prevent the department from taking the right decisions which involve balancing objectives.[157]

118. We consider there is a need for greater urgency by departments in establishing more ambitious environmental policies and data collection systems to allow departments to monitor their performance, set targets for making progress and be held accountable for it. We acknowledge that setting up such systems costs money but consider that there is likely to be scope for savings in the key areas of energy, water use, paper use, recycling and waste reduction and transport. We were therefore pleased that the Model Policy promotes the setting of a few more targets by departments, but we were disappointed that it has yet to be supported by government-wide commitment to further targets.

119. We note that to date departmental practice has been mainly to set targets to show year on year change in performance. We believe that measuring performance in a standardised way to allow comparisons provides a useful extra incentive to improve performance which has now been largely accepted in a wide range of other fields, such as local authority performance and schools league tables and should now be applied to the Greening Government Initiative.

120. We expect the Green Ministers Committee to agree further government wide medium-term targets and to commit themselves to start benchmarking departments' performance using standardised measures for more than just energy efficiency by the end of the century.

121. We cannot overemphasise the importance of organisations which spend taxpayers money addressing their environmental impacts and acting as exemplars for the rest of the community. High profile projects are prime candidates in this regard and we therefore call on the Government to do this in the plans for and construction of the new buildings for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. We also call on the appropriate Parliamentary authorities to ensure that environmental policies are in place and being applied throughout the parliamentary estate.

Reporting

122. Departments have been required to report on environmental matters in their annual reports since 1990.[158] In 1996 the Treasury confirmed to the Treasury Committee that departments' reports should include environmental considerations in their statement of objectives; name their Green Minister and list his/her responsibilities; mention significant commitments in This Common Inheritance and progress made; and mention green housekeeping initiatives, especially energy efficiency. [159]

123. The Committee is aware that some private companies are taking great strides in developing comprehensive environmental reports and that the Government is seeking to drive this further. A survey of the top 350 FTSE companies found that 65 per cent reported on environmental issues alongside their annual reports, although only 17 per cent had produced separate environmental reports.[160] Mr Prescott and Mr Meacher have both urged companies to do better. At the annual environmental reporting awards of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Mr Meacher said that he was not ruling out mandatory action if companies do not act voluntarily.[161]

124. Against this background the Committee reviewed departments' reports for 1998 and drew on similar work by The Green Alliance. The Committee found that there was significant scope for improvement in departmental statements of their commitment to reducing the impact of their operations on the environment and in their reporting of their performance. Most, but not all, departments identified their Green Minister but none of them outlined their relevant activities during the year. In most cases departments provided one or two paragraphs of comment on initiatives underway in the spirit of the Treasury guidance, with five highlighting their achievements in securing improvements in energy efficiency, two quantifying the amounts of paper they had sent for recycling, five discussing their work on Green Transport Plans and four referring to the addressing of environmental concerns in their procurement policy. The results of our review of the 1998 departmental annual reports are set out in Figure 3 opposite.

144 Ref. 49, TCI, 2^nd Year Report, Cm 2068 Back

145 Ref 75, TCI, 3^RD Year Report, Cm 2549 Back

146 See, for example, Welsh Office Ev pp387 & 347 Back

147 See, for example, Ev pp351 & 369 Back

148 DETR News Release, 20 May 1998, 394/ENV Back

149 Making Waste Work, Cm 3040, paragraph 1.47 Back

150 DETR News Release, 31 July 1997, 315/ENV Back

151 Ev pp143, 249, 334, 336, 374 & 387 Back

152 Ev p369 paragraph 7 Back

153 Ev p249 Back

154 Ev pp 380 & 381 Back

155 Ev p163 and Q379 Back