Annex 4: Government Response to the SDiG
Report 2007
On 18 March 2008 the Government published its official response to the Sustainable Development in Government 2007 report by the SDC. The first part of the response detailed actions which the Government has already taken, but which had not been included in the data for 2006-07 that were reviewed by the SDC. These included:
- Individual examples of good practice in a variety of departments, for instance: a reduction in emissions from travel by the Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office; reduction of waste by HM Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; and the reversal of an upward trend in carbon emissions from the Department for Work and Pensions estate.
- Actions following the decision by the Secretary of State for the Environment in March 2007 to ask the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, to take personal charge of the government's work in this area, and the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit to recommend the structures needed to ensure SOGE targets are delivered.
- A major exercise since January 2008 to assure the quality of data that departments submit each year to the SDC, as well as the baseline figures from which progress is calculated. The results suggest that information has in places been inaccurate. However, the Government suggests that revisions to these data improve the record of the Ministry of Justice and Cabinet Office, while not materially affecting the Government's performance at an aggregate level.
The report also announced changes that will be put in place to address the recommendations of the SDC in the latest SDiG report. These included:
- The Cabinet Secretary has announced that sustainability of the Government Estate will be one of his four corporate priorities for the civil service. Underneath this, from April 2008 all permanent secretaries will have SOGE targets and other key sustainability commitments built into their personal objectives.
- The creation of a new Director General post of Chief Sustainability Officer, and a new Centre of Expertise in Sustainable Procurement, situated within the Office of Government Commerce. CESP's objectives will include drawing up a delivery plan by summer 2008. This will take account of all the recommendations in the SDC report, and lay out timescales for their delivery. It will also set out milestones and a trajectory for the delivery of the Government's SOGE targets and Sustainable Procurement Action Plan commitments.
- A programme to Green Government IT, to be launched by summer 2008.
- A variety of measures to improve the carbon footprints of Government buildings, for instance by the implementation of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the adoption of new office space efficiency standards, and greater rationalisation of properties.
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Source: Defra, Cabinet Office, and Office of Government
Commerce, Government Response to Sustainable Development Commission,
March 2008, pp 1-3
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