§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what definition of sustainable development has been agreed for application across Government; and what mechanism is in place to ensure that the term is applied and claimed appropriately. [169856]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 30 April 2004]: The UK Government's current sustainable development strategy "A better quality of life", launched in May 1999, describes sustainable development as 'ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come'. It also refers to a widely used international definition, from the Brundtland Report of the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development, of
'development which meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.Government publications usually refer to the 'better quality of life' description as given in our 1999 Strategy. Examples would include the departmental sustainable development strategies for the Department of Health, the Department for Trade and Industry and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and HM Treasury's 2002 Spending Review Report.
We are currently consulting, in partnership with the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and Northern Ireland, to develop new sustainable strategy for the UK. As part of this we are reviewing our explanation of what sustainable development means.