§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs press release of 25 July on sustainable development, whether environmental management systems will cover government agencies as well as departments. [HL6248]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty):The press release of 25 July announced the publication of the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate (the framework). This includes government-wide targets for environmental management systems. The framework and all of its targets cover central 151WA government departments and their executive agencies. However, associated bodies are not included.
The target for environmental management systems is as follows:
Target A3
All departments are to implement environmental management system(s) based, or modelled upon, a recognised standard (such as IS014001, EMAS 2 or similar).
For mainly office based estates:
System(s) will be in place to cover:
—all main offices by 31 March 2004
—all other offices/sites by 31 March 2006
For mixed or mainly non-office estates:
System(s) should be in place to cover:
—40 per cent of estate by 31 March 2004
—80 per cent of estate by 31 March 2006
The targets and progress against them can be viewed at http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/sdig/ improving/index. htm.
It should be noted that delivery plans for EMSs are due to be published on 24 November 2002 and will be available on the website.