§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans Her Majesty's Government have to review progress at all levels in respect of their achieving the goals set by the Brundtland report; and when they expect to publish their first review.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe United Kingdom is one of the few countries around the world to have produced a detailed response setting out the steps being taken to follow up the Brundtland report. The Government believe that the most effective way to promote the call in the report for policies of sustainable development to be adopted on a global scale is through concerted action by the international community as a whole. Our recent conference on saving the ozone layer was one practical and highly successful demonstration of this.
The United Kingdom is taking a leading role in international organisations such as the United Nations and OECD to ensure that sustainable development is integrated into all their activities. We have also recently commissioned Professor David Pearce of London university to review current work on the tools needed for measuring progress towards sustainable development.