Conclusions
1. The
Business Plan review process has a significant weakness in that
it does not seek to address potential policy gaps, where new initiatives
could tackle unsustainable development. The reviews examine the
policies that are added to the Plans after being negotiated within
Government, rather than policies that should be generated as a
result of applying sustainable development thinking from the outset.
For the policies that the process does review, it presents an
opportunity for the Cabinet Office, with Defra support, to focus
departments' attention on the sustainability of those policies.
The Minister for government policy was persuasive about his commitment
to that new system. The key test of its effectiveness, however,
is the extent to which policies are adjusted and improved while
in development; a process that remains opaque to external scrutiny.
(Paragraph 13)
2. We welcome improvements
in guidance for Government departments on policy appraisal and
impact assessments, to reflect the need to address environmental
protection and sustainable development, and that civil servants'
skills requirements are being strengthened on these disciplines.
These are essential developments, as demonstrated by the emerging
findings of Defra's audit of the compliance with the new impact
assessment guidance. (Paragraph 20)
3. We welcome the
wider coverage of the Greening Government Commitments compared
to their predecessor targets, reflecting our previous calls to
include agencies and non-departmental public bodies as well as
the mainstream departments. We also welcome the progress that
departments overall are making on their Greening Government Commitments.
(Paragraph 26)
4. Overall, departments
have not been able to demonstrate their performance on embedding
sustainable procurement because of poor compliance in reporting
on this initiative. There is also significant slippage in refreshing
individual Government Buying Standards. The situation has not
been helped by continuing change in governance arrangements and
leadership in Government. (Paragraph 30)
5. Sustainability
reporting in Government is a key driver in embedding sustainable
development because of the scrutiny this allows and the focus
on sustainability it brings to departments' operations. The sustainability
reporting requirements, which go beyond the primarily emissions
focused mandatory private sector requirements, are a significant
and welcome development. Though at an early stage in this sustainability
reporting initiative, the first year results show that more information
could be published, but also that there is room for greater compliance.
The Treasury, as the reporting standard-setter, clearly has a
role in bringing about greater reporting compliance, but so too
do Defra and the Cabinet Office. When the Sustainable Development
Commission was abolished, we were assured that the leadership
of those two departments would ensure that sustainable development
was embedded and applied across Government. (Paragraph 38)
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