The Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) in Public Health England and NHS England, working with NHS Improvement, issued guidance in June to National Health Service providers to support improvements in environmental best practice. This can be found at: https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/default.aspx In November 2017 the SDU also published the Sustainable Development Assessment Tool that helps organisations build and monitor progress against robust and comprehensive Sustainable Development Management Plans (SDMPs). The tool is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, United Kingdom Government and NHS policy and strategy. It can be found at the following link: https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/sdat/ In early 2018 the SDU also updated the criteria/scope on sustainability reporting, for NHS organisations in line with Treasury best practice. This can be found at the following link: https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/default.aspx I have also held meetings with both NHS England and NHS Improvement to discuss how best to reduce the use of plastics across the NHS. Both the SDU and NHS Improvement hold a repository of best practice case studies across areas including energy and carbon, travel, waste and behaviour change. New case studies are published regularly and promoted to NHS organisations through monthly ebulletins and social media, which can be found at the following link: https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/case-studies.aspx All NHS providers that are party to the Long Form NHS Standard Contract are required to have in place and report annually on a SDMP. SDMPs are board adopted plans that set out how NHS organisations will minimise negative impacts and maximise positive impacts on the environment, society and economy. Information about individual trust board appointments is not held centrally. Annual sustainability reports are now also required from all trusts and must be signed off by boards as part of the Annual Reporting process. Environmental data submitted through trusts Estates Record Information Collection (ERIC) must also be signed off by a board level representative. Information about individual trusts’ SDMPs, approved by the trust board, and about Sustainability Reports and environmental data from ERIC, at a trust level, can be found at the following link: https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/policy-strategy/reporting/organisational-summaries.aspx Ministers have had no recent meetings with the medical Royal Colleges or medical equipment suppliers about reducing the use of plastic in the NHS. The NHS, in common with all other healthcare systems, has to use some single-use plastic devices and other plastic items to deliver effective care to patients. NHS trusts do, however, minimise the impact of healthcare on the environment. Information on those NHS trusts that produce their own energy is collected annually through ERIC. Overall, 36% of the energy consumed by those sites is produced by them. Details are shown in the attached table. All ERIC data is published at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection