§ Mr. HoramTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of the Department's policies have been screened for their environmental impact since June 2001; how many environmental appraisals have been conducted, and on what policy issues; and what information has been published about these screenings and appraisals. [124717]
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§ Mr. TimmsIn most instances, environmental screening and appraisal are undertaken as an integral part of the policy-making process, and separate records are not currently maintained.
Since June 2001, DTI has published the following self-standing appraisals:
- (i) An environmental appraisal of the draft Communications Bill was published in May 2002
- (ii) A sustainability appraisal of the Energy White Paper was published in February 2003. This was undertaken using an integrated policy appraisal tool, which aims to draw together existing appraisal requirements (economic, social, environmental and distributional) and is being piloted across Government to assess its usefulness.