Conclusions and recommendations
1. The
Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate
set a target that Departments should have arrangements to verify
their sustainability performance data by April 2003. While the
latest evidence suggests that departments have largely fulfilled
this requirement, we remain concerned that the framework targets
are neither demanding nor specific. We expect Defra and the Treasury
to set out what they would expect in terms of validation or verification.
(Paragraph 7)
2. We strongly recommend
that Departments which have not yet taken steps to improve the
quality of their sustainability reporting, in response to the
NAO's analysis or our consultation on it, should do so as soon
as possible in order that these improvements can be seen in the
2006-07 reporting cycle. (Paragraph 10)
3. We are concerned
that there are some very significant areas of departmental activity
which currently fall outside the parameters for what sustainable
development reporting there is in Government. Individual departments
must look to find mechanisms for reporting comprehensively on
the environmental or SD content of PFI contracts and other private
investment initiatives with which they are involved. (Paragraph
11)
4. The UK Sustainable
Development Strategy requires all Departments and Executive Agencies
to produce an annual Sustainable Development Action Plan (SDAP)
by December 2005 and "report on their actions by December
2006, for example, in their departmental annual reports and regularly
thereafter." This clearly opens the way for valuable momentum
to be lost. The Government should remove the ambiguity inherent
in this formulation by requiring departments to update SDAPs and
monitor progress against them on an annual basis. (Paragraph
12)
5. We are disappointed
that 14 Departments and Executive Agencies did not meet the deadline
for the submission and publication of their Sustainable Development
Action Plans, which will be a key influence for the future of
sustainability reporting. We urge the 5 which have still to publish
these Plans to do so as a matter of urgency. (Paragraph 14)
6. Departmental Sustainable
Development Action Plans must be sufficiently robust and specific
to allow progress can be monitored. It is early days for such
Plans, and Departments will need to improve their performance
in this area. We look to DEFRA and the Sustainable Development
Commission (SDC), responsible for overseeing the completion and
quality of the Plans, to ensure that these Plans are of the requisite
quality. We expect to take evidence both from DEFRA and from
the SDC in the future in respect of their responsibility for this
area of SD monitoring. (Paragraph 15)
7. We recommend that
Sustainable Development Action Plans should be published alongside
Departmental Annual Reports in the spring, in order to set out
plans and priorities. Sustainability reports should be published
alongside the annual report and accounts, in order to set out
results and performance. (Paragraph 19)
8. Sustainability
reports would link to and almost certainly expand on the relevant
section of the Departmental Management Commentary. Whereas the
Management Commentary would focus on environmental and social
matters which were significant to the Department's financial affairs,
and be forward looking, we recommend that the sustainability report
would capture past performance in more detail than can be accommodated
within the Management Commentary. We would expect the sustainability
report to cover achievement against the Action Plan, which in
turn would cover both the Department's operations and policy and
its contribution to the UK Sustainable Development Strategy. (Paragraph
20)
9. Whilst we recommend
that all Departments produce an annual sustainability report,
we also believe that there needs to be flexibility for Departments
about how they approach their reporting, within some broad parameters.
On the policy side, we would expect sustainability reporting to
cover how the Department's work links to and supports the UK Sustainable
Development Strategy, headline indicators and any related PSA
targets for which it is wholly or mainly responsible. On the operational
side, we would expect the report to cover performance against
the SDiG Framework. An area for further development would be a
set of core measures to measure environmental footprint, along
the lines of the Key Performance Indicators that Defra proposed
for Operating and Financial Reviews in the private sector. (Paragraph
23)
10. It will be important
that a single department, and indeed a named senior official takes
ownership and responsibility for the development of departmental
sustainability reporting. DEFRA and the Treasury are the main
candidates for doing so, notwithstanding the role that the Sustainable
Development Commission have in the development of SDAPs. (Paragraph
25)
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