§ Mr. HoramTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which United Kingdom commitments arising from the World Summit on Sustainable Development(a) have been incorporated into the Department's existing delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreements and (b) will be incorporated in its delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreement in advance of the 2004 Spending Review. [113875]
§ John HealeyThe Chancellor and I welcome the outcome and commitments made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) last year, and will work with other Government Departments and in the international community to meet them.
In relation to the 2003–06 Spending Review period, the Treasury has adopted a specific Service Delivery Agreement (SDA 10.1) to work with other Departments and with other EU partners to appraise the sustainable development implications of policy proposals. Although the Treasury's current Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets do not specifically refer to WSSD commitments, as they were agreed before the Summit, PSA 4 is relevant to WSSD commitments. It reads:
991W[To] promote UK economic prospects by pursuing increased productivity and efficiency in the EU, international financial stability and increased global prosperity, including especially protecting the most vulnerable.Fulfilling this objective includes promoting increased global prosperity and social justice, through working to increase the number of countries, including the poorest, successfully integrated into the global economy, making progress on debt relief through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Decisions as to what may be incorporated into delivery plans in advance of the 2004 Spending Review have not yet been reached.