Viscount St. Davidsasked Her Majesty's Government:
When the White Paper on Sustainable Development and the government response to the Second Annual Report of the Panel on Sustainable Development will be published.
Earl FerrersWe will publishThis Common Inheritance: UK Annual Report 1996 and the Government Response to the Second Annual Report of the Government's Panel on Sustainable Development tomorrow. Copies will be placed in the Library.
The White Paper reports progress during 1995 in meeting the commitments which we made in previous White Papers and in the UK sustainable development strategy, as well as making commitments for future action. In particular, it highlights our new priorities for the year ahead and brings together the main quantified targets which have already been agreed by government or which are under consideration.
At the strategic level, government policy is guided by advice from its Panel on Sustainable Development, which issued its second annual report in January of this year, focused on environmental accounting, biotechnology, forestry and the disposal of radioactive waste. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister is writing to the convenor of the panel with the Government's response, which is also being issued in the form of a short booklet.
These White Paper and the panel reports provide an objective audit of the Government's success in moving towards sustainable development. They complement the recently published Indicators of Sustainable Development for the United Kingdom, which aims to demonstrate the progress which the country is making towards sustainable development and to show where further action is needed—not just by Government but also by business, local authorities and individuals.