Extract from the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons,10 November 1997: "Ordered, There shall be a select committee, called the Environmental Audit Committee, to consider to what extent the policies and programmes of government departments and non-departmental public bodies contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development; to audit their performance against such targets as may be set for them by Her Majesty's Ministers; and to report thereon to the House."

The Committee was nominated on 12 November 1997.

It had 15 Members and held 34 meetings.

Members	Meetings attended
Horam, Mr John (Chairman)	32
Baker, Mr Norman (added, 2.12.97)	21
Blizzard, Mr Bob	12
Brinton, Mrs Helen	24
Dafis, Mr Cynog (added, 17.11.97)	28
Grieve, Mr Dominic	29
Iddon, Dr Brian	30
Loughton, Mr Tim	22
*Meacher, Rt Hon Michael (added, 19.11.97)	0
Robertson, Mr Laurence	24
Savidge, Mr Malcolm	26
Shaw, Mr Jonathan R	22
Taylor, Mr Matthew (added, 17.11.97, discharged, 2.12.97)	1
Thomas, Mr Gareth R	24
Truswell, Mr Paul	20
Walley, Joan	26

The symbol * against a Member's name indicates that he held a Ministerial Post while being a member of the Committee.

Overall attendance: 66. 9 %

Number of Members added:  4

Number of Members discharged:  1

Turnover of membership during the Session:   7 %

Staff

Committee Clerk: Mr F J Reid.

Other Committee staff: Miss J Goldsmith, Specialist Assistant (Grade 8); Miss E C G Partridge, Higher Executive Officer (Grade 10); Miss Ronnie Jefferson, Secretary (Grade 13) (27.10.97 to 19.12.97), Miss Kate Wreford, Secretary (Grade 13) (12.1.98 to 23.3.98), Mrs A Williams, Secretary (Grade 13) (from 23.3.98.).

Specialist Advisers during the Session

Dr Paul Ekins, Mr Chris Hewitt and Mr Derek Osborn, CB.

Witnesses

Oral evidence was given during the Session by the following categories of witnesses:

Number of appearances by:-

Cabinet Ministers:  1

Other Ministers:  9

Number of appearances by officials from, or representatives of:-

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions:  6

other departments:  7

comprising:- Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food  1

Ministry of Defence  2

Department of Trade and Industry  2

HM Treasury  2

executive agencies:- Defence Estate Organisation  1

non-departmental public bodies:  3

comprising:- Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment   2

Environment Agency   1

Appearances by other witnesses:  35

Overseas Visits

Date	Destination	Members	Staff	Purpose	Cost
20-23.6.98	Denmark	3	1	Attendance at "Our Common European Garden Conference" in a representative capacity	£3,570.96

Visits to European Institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg

None

UK Visits

Date	Destination	Members	Staff	Purpose	Cost
24.02.98	Environment Agency, Hampton House, London	10	2	Briefings	£84.81

Reports and Minutes of Evidence  

Title	HC No. (1997-98)	Date of publication	No. of pages	Sale price	Government   reply
First Report: Pre-Budget Report	547	10.3.98	129	£15.90	Received: 2.6.98 published within Third Report, Session 1997-98
Second Report: The Greening Government Initiative	517-I	2.7.98	53	£9.70	Received: 16.11.98 Cm 4108
Minutes of Evidence and Appendices: The Greening Government Initiative	517-II	6.7.98	404	£30.50	Not applicable
Third Report: The Pre-Budget Report: Government Response and Follow-Up	985	20.7.98	21	£5.80	Not required
Fourth Report: Climate Change: UK Emission Reduction Targets and Audit Arrangements	899	31.7.98	55	£9.70	Reply awaited
Minutes of Evidence: Water Issues	940-i	17.9.98	55	£9.70	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: European Environmental Policy	1018	17.9.98	7	£3.40	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: Energy Issues	1038-i	17.9.98	13	£4.00	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: Trees	1017-i	4.11.98	15	£4.75	Not applicable

Divisions

Date	Subject
25.11.97	One, on election of Chairman.

Debates                                                        

The following Report was referred to on the Order Paper as being relevant to a debate in the House:

First Report, 1997-98, Pre-Budget Report, debate on the Budget Resolutions, 17.3.98.

Evidence

Oral evidence was taken at 18 of the Committee's 34 meetings. On none of these occasions was evidence taken partly or wholly in private. The Committee received 105 memoranda, of which 35 came from Government, departments, 1 from an executive agency, and 5 from associated public bodies. The Committee published 89 memoranda.

Inquiry	No. of oral evidence sessions	No. of memoranda received	No. of memoranda received from Government departments/ executive agencies/ associated public bodies	No. of memoranda published	No. of memoranda made available in the Record Office for public use and placed in the Library
Pre-Budget Report, 1997	2	26	2/0/1	26	0
The Greening Government Initiative	9	53	28/1/4	53	0
Climate Change: UK Emission Reduction Targets and Audit Arrangements	1	2	2/0/0	2	0
Water Issues (single session)	1	5	0	3	2
Trees (single session)	1	2	0	2	0
European Environmental Policy (single session)	1	2	0	1	0
Energy Issues (single session)	1	2	0	2	0
Multilateral Agreement on Investment (inquiry not concluded in 1997-98)	2	14	3/0/0	0	0
Total	18	105	35/1/5	89	2