§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice the Cabinet Office gives to(a) Government Departments and (b) public sector procurement directors about the purchase of office furniture which has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. [16462]
§ Mr. MorleyGiving advice to Government Departments on environmental procurement matters is the joint responsibility of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Office of Government Commerce.
204WCentral Government Departments were formally reminded of the Government's policy to procure timber and timber related products from sustainable and legal sources in a Note dated 2 January 2001 from the then Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions sent to heads of procurement under cover of a Note from the Office of Government Commerce. In that note attention was drawn to advice on the DETR website—now maintained by DEFRA. Central Government have not given advice on this subject directly to other public sector procurement directors but the Government's advice is widely available and can be adapted or adopted by any other organisation.
Central Government buyers are advised to specify in orders and contracts that suppliers provide documentary evidence, which has been, or can be, independently verified, that the timber has been lawfully obtained from forests and plantations managed to sustain their biodiversity, productivity and vitality and to prevent harm to other ecosystems and any indigenous or forest dependent people. When verifying the credibility of suppliers' claims buyers are not advised to consider any particular scheme in preference to other schemes. Buyers have been advised, by way of the statement made by the Minister for the Environment to Parliament on 28 July 2000, that the Forest Stewardship Council is an example of a body that sets independent standards for sustainable forestry and a means for verifying the source of timber purchased.
DEFRA has commissioned a study of central Government's timber procurement requirements with a view to producing further advice to buyers.