§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to support emerging environmental industries and clean processes in British business and industry.
§ Mr. AtkinsThe Government already provide considerable support and encouragement to the development of the United Kingdom's emerging environmental industries. For example, my Department and the Department of Trade and Industry established the joint environmental markets unit in December 1992 to assist and encourage United Kingdom firms to exploit the expanding opportunities in the world market for environmental goods and services. A growing number of firms are now taking advantage of the unit's services.
The President of the Board of Trade announced on 7 December that the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of the Environment would jointly run a new environmental technology best practice programme. This will find and present to industry examples of how firms can reduce costs and pollution at one and the same time. The programme's main objective will be to encourage user companies to adopt environmentally favourable technology and best practice in environmental management. It will also encourage suppliers to develop such technology and techniques.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for what reasons funding for the238W environmental technology innovation scheme and the environmental management options scheme has been reduced.
§ Mr. AtkinsBoth the environmental technology innovation scheme and the DTI's environmental management options scheme were three-year programmes which were open to grant applications between October 1990 and September 1993. Funding continues to be paid to on-going projects under the schemes and for disseminating their results.
The 1993 White Paper "Realising our potential: a Strategy for Science, Engineering and Technology" highlighted the importance of the spread of best practice and the transfer and diffusion of technology. The new £16 million environmental technology best practice programme, which was announced by the President of the Board of Trade on 7 December, has been set up to take this forward and will build on the earlier two schemes.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment to what extent he considers that more stringent environmental regulations are necessary if British exports are to pass the environmental standards of other countries.
§ Mr. AtkinsA recent report commissioned by my Department and the Department of Trade and Industry concluded that United Kingdom firms are in a good position to exploit the rapidly expanding world market for environmental goods and services. The United Kingdom environmental industry is very competitive internationally and a highly successful exporter for the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to encourage environmental technology in British industries that would produce less waste and use fewer natural resources.
§ Mr. AtkinsA new environmental technology best practice programme, run jointly by my Department and the Department of Trade and Industry, was announced by the President of the Board of Trade on 7 December. It will make the best environmental technology and techniques more widely known to potential users and suppliers. The programme will have a strong emphasis on reducing waste at source, thereby making better use of natural resources.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to favour contractors with good environmental practices in its own purchases.
§ Mr. AtkinsThe Department's procurement officers have already been provided with clear guidelines to integrate environmental factors into their buying requirements. This is in accordance with the Department's green housekeeping policy statement which was updated in March 1993 and the recently published green guide for suppliers of goods and services to the Department entitled: "Selling to DOE".
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to ensure that products purchased by the Government should be tested for energy and non-renewable resource implications.
§ Mr. AtkinsDecisions on purchasing are a matter for individual Departments. However, recent Treasury 239W guidance states that specifications for goods and services should reflect the Department's environmental strategies while using competition and seeking best value for money.
My own Department has recently published a guide entitled "Selling to DOE" which, among, other things, informs suppliers of goods and services of our requirement for products which are energy efficient and made from recycled or renewable materials. The Department has also instructed its procurement officers to give preference to such products in accordance with our green housekeeping policy statement which was first published in 1992 and updated last spring.
My Department's energy efficiency office encourages Departments to improve all aspects of their energy efficiency, including purchasing, to assist them in achieving their target of improving their energy efficiency by 15 per cent. over five years.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek to impose mandatory minimum standards on matters such as energy efficiency.
§ Mr. AtkinsStandards for the energy efficiency of new buildings already exist in the building regulations. The Government are in the process of revising the regulations which should lead to an improvement in energy efficiency of between 25 and 35 per cent. compared with the current provisions.
The Government also support the EC proposals for energy labelling and minimum standards of appliances, provided that they can be achieved without excessive costs to consumers and manufacturers. Regulations to implement a directive setting minimum standards for the efficiency of new boilers came into force on 1 January 1994. Minimum standards requirements for the efficiency of other heating appliances await the formulation of appropriate European standards under the construction products directive.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the extent to which environmental regulations on industry could improve their competitiveness while protecting natural resources.
§ Mr. AtkinsWe keep under constant review both the effectiveness and the effects of existing and possible new environmental regulations, as well as alternatives to regulations.