1 Background
Sustainable Operations on the
Government Estate
1. The Sustainable Operations on the Government
Estate (SOGE) Framework is formed of three elements, each containing
targets against which central government departments must report
their performance. The first is a set of SOGE targets, including
targets for the reduction of carbon emissions from offices and
road vehicles, the reduction of waste arisings and water consumption,
recycling rates and biodiversity. The second is a set of "Mandated
Mechanisms" intended to help departments improve their performance.
These mechanisms include the application of the Building Research
Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) standards
to new builds or major refurbishments and the use of formal Environmental
Management Systems (EMS). The third is the Sustainable Procurement
Action Plan (SPAP).
Scrutiny of the Government's record
by EAC
2. This is our eighth report on the subject of
sustainable operations on the government estate. Through this
work the Committee has played a significant role in the evolution
of the Government's own target and monitoring regime.[1]
We first coined the term 'Greening Government' in a report published
in 1998, and our annual survey of departments formed the basis
for the Government's data collection exercise for the now annual
Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report.
3. In our most recent report on this issue, published
in July 2008, our main concerns were:
- the poor progress by departments
against their carbon reduction goals;
- the lack of clarity about how the target of making
government offices carbon neutral by 2012 was to be met, and
the extent to which offsets might be used to achieve this target;
- the restricted scope of the SDiG targets and
monitoring regime, in that it does not cover NHS bodies or schools;
and
- the contribution made by ICT to the upward trend
in emissions from civil departments.[2]
Shortly after the publication of our report, the
Government put in place a new governance framework for sustainable
operations. This report examines what progress has been made over
the past year.
Data quality
4. While it is clear that the quality of data
reported by government departments for the Sustainable Development
in Government Assessment has improved substantially in recent
years, questions remain. In 2002, the Government published the
first Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report. In
2006, coinciding with the introduction of a revised set of SOGE
targets, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) became responsible
for the annual publication of the SDiG report. In the three years
preceding the 2007-08 assessment, the SDC had gathered the performance
data as reported by departments. For the 2007-08 assessment, the
Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the Centre for Expertise
in Sustainable Procurement (CESP) worked with the SDC to use an
existing central government property database, e-PIMS, to collect
data. For the 2008-09 reporting period, responsibility for all
data collection will be transferred to the Government.
5. In its most recent report on the sustainability
of government departments, the SDC called for "rigorous,
centralised verification of the entire dataset […] before
sign-off".[3] Farooq
Ullah, Policy Analyst, Strategic Assessment, doubted that this
verification could be carried out by the SDC and thought that
it needed to be done by a third party under contract.[4]
6. The quality of data reported
by government departments for the Sustainable Development in Government
Assessment has improved substantially in recent years. Further
improvement requires a formal process of audit and verification.
We recommend that the Government undertake an assessment of the
cost and feasibility of implementing a system of external verification
of the data submitted by departments.
1 Environmental Audit Committee, Second Report of 1997-98,
The Greening Government Initiative, HC 517; Sixth Report
of 1998-99, Greening Government 1999, HC 426; Fifth Report
of 1999-2000, The Greening Government Initiative: First Annual
Report from the Green Ministers Committee, HC 341; Thirteenth
Report of Session 2002-03, Greening Government 2003, HC
961; Eighth Report of 2003-04, Greening Government 2004,
HC 881; First Report of 2005-06, HC 698; Environmental Audit Committee,
Seventh Report of Session 2007-08, Making Government operations
more sustainable: A progress check, HC 529 Back
2
Environmental Audit Committee, Seventh Report of Session 2007-08,
Making Government operations more sustainable: A progress check,
HC 529 Back
3
Sustainable Development Commission, Sustainable Development
in Government 2008: Challenges for Government, p. 50 Back
4
Q 8, Q 11 Back
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