§ Lord Brougham and Vauxasked Her Majesty's Government:
What arc their policies for publishing environmental statistics.
The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Earl Ferrers)My department publishes a wide range of environmental statistics every year, primarily in the annualDigest of Environmental Statistics. the next edition of which is to he published in May. This is to he supplemented in 1996 by a new 70WA booklet giving key facts in graphical arid tabular form, which we hope will he particularly useful for those wanting a pocket-sized summary and for schools. Key information from the digest is also to he made available through the Internet for the first time later this year.
A more limited set of statistical information was given in the Sustainable Development Strategy, published in 1994. It is planned that this will he updated in 1997, five years on from the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In the meantime, the Government continue to publish their annual White Papers reporting progress with the strategy; the next is due in March this year.
A new report presenting a preliminary set of Indicators of Sustainable Development for the United Kingdom will also he published in March. This follows a commitment given in the Sustainahre Development Strategy to publish a set of indicators within two years. The United Kingdom will, we believe, he one of the first countries in the world to publish such indicators. The indicators will he the subject of consultation and development, and will he updated on a regular basis, probably every two years.
The new Environment Agency is to publish early in April 1996 a summary of the state of the environment in England and Wales. This will he made available through the Internet.
In addition to the more technical Digest of Environment Statistics, my department also published, in 1992, the first edition of a compendium statistical report, The UK Environment, aimed at schools and colleges. This was successful and we had planned to update it in 1997. However, in view of the wide range of statistical publications planned in the next few years which I have described, we have decided that it would he better to devote our resources to producing a special edition of UK Environment in 1999 to mark the beginning of the new Millennium. The department will discuss with the Environment Agencies what contribution they !night make to the preparation of this report.