§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which Minister attended when the green Ministers last met; which items were discussed; when they will next meet; and what items are on the agenda for that meeting. [18657]
§ Mr. AtkinsMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment and I attended the last meeting in December 1994.
The items discussed were:
the UK annual report 1995: "This Common Inheritance" (now published, Cm 2822), the town and country quality initiative, the Royal Commission on environmental pollution report on transport and the environment and the proposed rural White Paper. The UK round table on sustainable development and departmental green housekeeping strategies were also discussed.A further meeting will be held shortly and the agenda is presently being considered.
1290W
§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will name the green Minister for his Department and list(a) the green initiatives taken by that Minister in respect of the Department's functions, (b) the representations made by the Minister in respect of functions carried out by other Departments and (c) the input made by the Minister into consultations on the Environment Bill. [18639]
§ Mr. GummerI am the principal green Minister for the Department of the Environment, but all my ministerial colleagues share our common objective of promoting sustainable development in all areas of national life.
"Sustainable Development: the UK Strategy", Cm 2426, presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister in January 1994, set out our overall approach to these issues, and lists large numbers of individual initiatives, objectives and targets. Progress on these has been reported more recently in "This Common Inheritance 1995", Cm 2822, published last month. Paragraphs 1.9 to 1.12 of that report list the following nine areas to which we are giving high priority this year together with the following priority aims for each one:
Climate Change: to review the objectives and measures in the UK's climate change programme, and to consider how it should be extended beyond 2000 so as to make an appropriate UK contribution to the global effort.Air Quality: to implement an effective strategy for improving general levels of local air quality and for managing episodes of poor air quality on the basis of the strategic policies set out in "Air Quality: Meeting the Challenge".Freshwater and the Sea: to maintain and where appropriate improve the quality of UK drinking water, rivers and bathing and coastal waters; and to participate constructively in European negotiations on the further improvement of drinking water (including on the issue of lead) and surface waters, and the protection of groundwater; while taking carefully into account what water consumers and others can reasonably afford.Biodiversity: to develop the UK's biodiversity action plan into an effective programme for the protection of habitats and species, with specific costed targets for key habitats and species.1291WFish stocks: to examine options for improving the EC common fisheries policy taking account of the advice of the Government's panel on sustainable development, and to reflect on its recommendation for the establishment of an intergovernmental panel on the oceans;Waste: to carry forward public consultations on a new waste management strategy which would encourage everyone firstly to reduce waste and then to reuse or recycle, or recover energy in preference to disposing of waste, and to seek Parliament's approval for statute-based producer responsibility schemes for the reuse, recovery or recycling of products and materials.Rural Development: in preparing rural White Papers for England and Scotland to take a fresh look at economic, social and environmental policies which impact on rural areas.The Built Environment: to improve the quality of the built environment, to raise awareness that good design matters and is affordable and to help ease development pressure in particular by taking forward ideas prompted by the quality in town and country initiative.Transport: recognising that unconstrained traffic growth would have unacceptable consequences in terms of pollution, carbon dioxide production, noise and disturbance, to develop appropriate national and local strategies and measures for reducing the need to travel and to encourage more sustainable and environmentally acceptable patterns of transport—focusing particularly on the recommendations of the Royal Commission on environmental pollution.The whole Government are committed to the objective of sustainable development and I am in regular contact with all my colleagues on the implications of this, including in particular the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the Foreign Secretary; the Home Secretary; the Secretary of State for Transport; the President of the Board of Trade; the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; and the Secretaries of State for Wales and Scotland.
I have taken the lead inside and outside Government in the preparations for the Environment Bill, and look forward to introducing it to the House of Commons shortly after Easter.