§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how(a) the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, (b) its regional offices, (c) the Fire Service College, (d) the Ordnance Survey, (e) the Planning Inspectorate, (f) the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and (g) the Rent Service monitor and audit purchases of timber and timber products to ensure that they meet the Department's stated commitment to being obtained from legal and sustainable sources. [164676]
§ Yvette CooperThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, its regional offices and its agencies are committed to the Government Policy on the purchase of Legal and Sustainable forested wood and this is fully supported in our Greening Operations Policy Statement.
Contracts where the use of timber and timber based products is anticipated, contain clauses that require the supplier to actively seek legally sourced and sustainable timber and to supply physical evidence that supports this. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has the use of framework contracts for the purchase of furniture, which are subject to supply chain audit by officials.
Timber and timber based products have been adopted within the certificated and independently audited Environmental Management Systems which the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has developed to manage our response to the "Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate".
It is expected that Government targets associated with Timber Procurement will be published in the coming months and officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be incorporating this into our procurement processes.
Although the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has overall responsibility for the buildings occupied by Government Offices, they carry out functions on behalf of 10 Departments.