§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will make a statement outlining the benefits which will accrue to the manufacturing, construction and retailing sectors of the United Kingdom economy through the acceptance of agenda 21 of the Rio declaration of June 1992;
(2) what assessment Her Majesty's Government have undertaken of the costs (a) to date and (b) by the year 2000, of complying with the Rio declaration of June 1992;
(3) if he will make a statement summarising the information which he has about the extent to which other signatory countries to agenda 21 of the Rio declaration of June 1992, have begun to implement measures in keeping with the agenda which affect their manufacturing, construction and retailing industries.
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 6 July 1994]: The Rio declaration and agenda 21 clearly recognise the importance of economic development to improvement of the quality of life of present and future generations. The Government are committed to the close involvement of the wealth-creating sectors in the preparation of policies to ensure that economic development is sustainable. Acceptance of the principles of agenda 21 by a large number of the United Kingdom's trading partners will help British business to compete on a level playing field, and 275W will create substantial new market opportunities for suppliers of cleaner process technologies and environmental goods and services.
The Government seek to take account of the principles of sustainable development in all policies, together with a wide range of other factors. It is often not possible to separate out the cost attributable to abiding by the principles of sustainable development. However, we aim to consider carefully the compliance cost of all new policies.
The United Kingdom Government have been one of the principal proponents of a system of national reporting on progress in the implementation of measures in agenda 21. Our sustainable development strategy was published this January. We shall continue to urge other countries to follow suit through our membership of the Commission on Sustainable Development. We hope that in due course the commission will be able to publish information based on national reports.