Select Committee on Environmental Audit Written Evidence


APPENDIX 1

Letter from the Chairman of the committee to Rt Hon John Prescott MP, Deputy Prime Minister

WSSD FOLLOW-UP AND THE URBAN SUMMIT

  As you may be aware, my Committee is currently examining how the Government intends to follow-up its commitments relating to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

The World Summit on Sustainable Development

  DEFRA's memoranda to us for this inquiry included a helpful table (enclosed) which outlines the key commitments made at the Summit and the UK Government Departments to which they relate. We note that your department is leading on a number of these commitments and we were pleased to see that sessions at the Urban Summit were dedicated to sustainable development and sustainable communities. However, we were surprised that you yourself did not refer to the World Summit in your key note speech at the Urban Summit despite having returned from Johannesburg only weeks before. We understand from DEFRA that WSSD outcomes are now being pursued through existing policy processes and work streams across Government. In this spirit, your address presented a high profile and early opportunity to make the link back to the Summit, if only by a brief acknowledgement. It would be very helpful to the Committee if you could outline the particular reasons why you decided not to refer to the WSSD at the Urban Summit.

January 2003



 
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