Annex B
HOME OFFICE WEBSITE STATEMENT ON FRAMEWORK
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ON THE GOVERNMENT ESTATE
TARGET A2:
All Departments should, within 4 months of the
announcement of each suite of targets in the Framework, make public
a strategy showing how they plan to deliver the targets. If a
Department concludes that its impact is insignificant in a particular
area (in comparison to its other impacts identified under target
A1) and that pursuit of the relevant targets would not be an effective
use of resources, the Department must publish a statement on the
same timescale.
The first suite of targets cover Environmental
Management Systems, Public Reporting, Travel and Water.
Lines of responsibility
Fiona MactaggartHome Office Green Minister
Charles EverettHome Office Sustainable
Development Champion
Julia WrightEnvironmental Issues Manager
For the delivery plans on all the targets the
Department will be adopting a project management approach. The
plan will appear on this website and will be updated regularly
to show progress.
TARGET A3: ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
(EMSS) TO
BE IN
PLACE TO
COVER 40% OF
THE ESTATE
BY 31 MARCH
2004 AND 80% OF
THE ESTATE
BY 31 MARCH
2006
For the core Home Office office estate of 35
sites ( primarily our offices in central London and Croydon) we
will implement EMSs by 31 March 2004, using the BT Entropy system.
Responsibility for the running of the system will lie with the
Sustainable Development Team but there will be local management
input to action plans and performance monitoring. The Team will
also liaise with local managers at sites in devolved areas to
ensure that they have in place appropriate equivalent systems
to manage their key environmental impacts by the same date, offering
advice and assistance where necessary.
HM Prison Service
There are four prisons with EMSs
certified to ISO14001 (HMP Doncaster, Parc, Kirkham and Wymott).
Work is currently underway to implement
an EMS at HMP Norwich and at the Prison Service College at Newbold
Revel.
The Prison Service will commission
consultants to produce an Environmental Manual for use at other
establishments. Drawing on their experience of the pilot EMS sites
the manual will explain in clear, practical terms the measures
necessary to set up similar, but not necessarily accredited, systems.
The manual should be available by August 2003 and will be piloted
across the North West Area of the Prison Service with a view to
adopting it across the whole Service.
Forensic Science Service
The FSS has devised a detailed timetable for
implementing EMSs at all sites by March 2004, together with associated
measures to raise staff awareness. Following implementation individual
benchmarks will be set up to March 2006.
UK Passport Agency
The UKPS is currently operating a paper-based
Environmental Management System, which will be strengthened and
improved over 2003-04. This will include a requirement for each
of the regional offices to maintain and update its own Strategy
Activities Log and Action Plan, which will be accessible through
a shared database.
National Probation Directorate
NPD have only very recently taken central control
of the probation estate. The new outsourcing FM arrangements,
started in April 2003. As part of the new property management
arrangements, a system for identifying and managing key sustainable
development impacts on the 66 key major NPD sites will be in place
by April 2004.
IS Accommodation Estate
Information to be added as soon as it becomes
available.
TARGETS A4 AND
A5: ARRANGEMENTS
FOR PUBLICLY
REPORTING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS
& VERIFYING
THEIR PERFORMANCE
TO BE
REVIEWED AND
IN PLACE
BY 3 APRIL
2003
The main Home Office currently reports sustainable
development progress through a dedicated section in the Home Office
annual report http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/annrep2002/html
and the sustainable development in Government report prepared
by DEFRA.
http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/sdig/reports/ar2002/index.htm
The Prison Service publishes a separate annual
sustainable development report http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/corporate.
The Home Office's approach to the targets covered by the Framework
for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate will be published
on the Home Office internet site, as will our performance against
all of the targets. We are also developing a series of Departmental
sustainable development indicators which will be published on
this website by the end of July and will publish these and our
progress on them on this website.
TARGET B1: REDUCE
ROAD TRANSPORT
VEHICLE CARBON
DIOXIDE EMISSIONS
BY AT
LEAST 10% BY
31 MARCH 2006, TO
BE ACHIEVED
THROUGH ANY
COMBINATION OF:
(a) reducing total business mileage;
(b) improving average fuel efficiency
of vehicles; and
(c) reducing total fuel consumed.
Current position: In the financial year 2001-02 Home
Office staff travelled over one million business miles by private
car. Reducing the business mileage is therefore key to achieving
the overall target.
Action:
Much of this travel is undertaken by immigration
officers and staff involved in Inspectorate duties, who for operational
and personal safety reasons cannot use public transport, but in
order to reduce other business travel we will:
review current levels of mileage
payment, and the scope for providing incentives for the use of
alternatively fuelled vehicles;
review the policy on the payment
of mileage claims ( including the level of payment for non-essential
car journeys);
promote the use of video-conferencing
facilities, where available, as the first option rather than travelling
to meetings;
publish a statement of commitment
to the use of public transport whenever possible; and
collect baseline data on the use
of hire cars with a view to reducing their use.
TARGET B2: TEN
PER CENT
OF FLEET
CARS TO
BE ALTERNATIVELY
FUELLED BY
31 MARCH 2006
Current position: One thousand five hundred vehicles
(cars and vans) are controlled by HMPS on behalf of the whole
Department and 0.5% of this fleet is alternatively fuelled (Dual
fuel LPG/petrol) at present. The vast majority of the remainder
are diesel fuelled. Diesel is a highly efficient fuel (both petrol
and LPG give less miles per litre). A far smaller fleet is run
by the FSS (135 vehicles, 5% alternatively fuelled).
Action:
The Departmental Transport Manager
already encourages the purchase of fuel efficient cars when purchasing
them on behalf of units and establishments and by 31 March 2006
we will meet the target of having 10% of the HMPS and FSS fleets
alternatively fuelled.
The only viable alternatively fuelled
vehicles, in most circumstances, are dual fuelled LPG/petrol vehicles.
These provide environmental benefits only if they are run on LPG
most of the time so we will also monitor the pattern of use of
these vehicles to ensure that this is the case.
TARGET B3: REDUCE
SINGLE OCCUPANCY
CAR COMMUTING
BY 5% BY
31 MARCH 2006
Current position: Data is not available on the extent
of single occupancy car commuting and previous attempts to collate
it have been resource-intensive and unsuccessful. Commuting by
car is not a significant issue for staff in the main Home Office
working in London due to the availability of good public transport,
and the limited car parking at these buildings. There are no spaces
allocated for the use of staff who choose to commute.
The availability of car parking at non-London
office sites varies considerably: for example in Croydon spaces
are allocated on the basis of a point system and preference is
already given to staff who car share.
In areas of the Department such as the Prison
Service and Immigration Service shift working makes car sharing
arrangements difficult (one prison may have up to 19 different
shift working patterns operating at any one time). It is important
that measures adopted at these sites are tailored to their particular
circumstances, taking into account the availability of public
transport, whether restrictions would exacerbate existing recruitment
and retention problems and whether they would simply result in
a switch to on-street parking.
Action:
The Department will consider measures to discourage
staff from commuting to work by car, including:
Establishing baseline information
on the number of car park spaces at each key site and setting
targets to reduce them.
Applying strict criteria to applications
for car parking spaces, especially where the site is well served
by public transport. The criteria will vary locally but will include
factors such as car-sharing and the availability of public transport
alternatives.
Severely limiting staff car park
spaces at any new buildings (eg the new Home Office HQ building
will accommodate approximately 3,500 staff and have a maximum
of 90 car park spaces but over 100 cycle rack spaces).
At the same time it will encourage staff to
use alternative methods of transport for travelling to work by:
Promoting the facility for staff
to receive no-interest loans for public transport season ticket
and cycle purchases.
Promoting national initiatives such
as cycle to work days.
Arranging free/subsidised travel
where appropriate ( eg the FSS at Birmingham run a free bus service
for staff to get to and from the local train station to their
offices).
Maintaining up to date travel plans
for all its sites, which include staff awareness measures.
TARGET C1: DEPARTMENTS
THAT HAVE
ALREADY JOINED
WATERMARK TO
CONSIDER BY
SEPTEMBER 2002 WHETHER
THEY HAVE
ANY FURTHER
SITES THAT
SHOULD BE
INCLUDED IN
THE PROJECT
The Watermark project was established in 1999
to develop benchmarking and management information on water consumption
across the public sector. With reliable benchmarking data and
proper monitoring and control systems it is estimated that over
£60 million per year could be saved in public expenditure
on water and effluent services. Features of Watermark include:
A computerised database for data
collection.
An interactive website.
Benchmarking information for a variety
of buildings to enable the establishment of water consumption
targets.
Validation of participants water
bills, providing advice on errors in billing.
Current position: Target met. The Home Office joined
Watermark in 2001 and it provides data to Watermark on its directly
managed key office and non-office sites.
TARGET C2: REDUCE
WATER CONSUMPTION
IN OFFICES
TO AN
AVERAGE OF
7.7M3 PER
PERSON BY
MARCH 04.7M3
PER PERSON
FOR ALL
NEW BUILDINGS
AND MAJOR
REFURBISHMENTS WHERE
DESIGN COMMENCES
AFTER 2002.
Current position: Water consumption at Home Office
key office sites is currently around 13.9m3 per person per year.
Action:
We intend to fund detailed water
surveys at poor performing offices, and then undertake the recommended
modifications where practicable.
We will raise staff awareness of
the need to conserve water and the practical measures for achieving
this.
The new Home Office headquarters
building (due to open 2005) will aim to achieve at least a "very
high" BREEAM rating : one aspect that will be taken into
consideration is the efficient use of water.
The Buildings Research Establishment Environmental
Assessment Method (BREEAM) provides a comprehensive tool for analysing
and improving the environmental performance of buildings from
design through to management. It is widely accepted and used both
as a property specification tool, a design tool and as an environmental
review tool in environmental management strategies.
TARGETS C3 AND
C4: IDENTIFY
NON-OFFICE
SITES ON
THEIR ESTATES
WHERE THERE
ARE LIKELY
TO BE
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
SIGNIFICANT WATER
SAVINGS AND
MAKE ARRANGEMENTS
TO PROVIDE
AVAILABLE DATA
ON SIGNIFICANT
NON-OFFICE
SITES TO
WATERMARK, OR,
IF DATA
IS NOT
AVAILABLE, ESTABLISH
MONITORING ARRANGEMENTS
WITH THEM.
Current position: The Prison Service forms the vast
majority of the Home Office non-office estate and already belongs
to the Watermark project, as does the Forensic Science Service
(FSS).
Action:
Prison service
Water consumption levels from 1998-99 were used
as the baseline data and the resultant benchmarks for establishments
are as follows:
Prisons with laundries 143m3 /prisoner/year.
Prisons without laundries 116.6m3
/prisoner/year.
Good practice for Prisons with laundries
is 115m3 /prisoner/year.
Good practice for Prisons without
laundries is 93m3 /prisoner/year.
FSS
Individual targets have been set for laboratories
based on Watermark benchmarking data.
National Probation Service
The key sites from the National Probation Service
estate will join the Watermark project over the next two years,
unless they are leased premises where payment for utilities forms
part of the overall rent.
|