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Introduction and scope

This is the second annual Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) Report. The first SDiG Report was published in 2002, to reflect the change from "Greening Government", to the full range of sustainable development - in particular, social issues were reported on for the first time.

This SDiG Report is only available electronically; it provides an online report and searchable database of information relating to the management of the Government's land, buildings and staff. It covers data from the twenty central Government Departments and their executive agencies for the year April 2002-March 2003. More detailed information should now be covered by individual departmental reporting. The executive summary is available as a printed document (see below for contact details).

The first Report identified three broad priority areas for Government:

Integrating sustainable development into decision making.
Improving the performance of the Estate.
Promoting understanding of sustainable development across Government.

It outlined general developments in these three areas up to end September 2002, with specific data on the performance of the Government Estate for the year April 2001 to March 2002.

Since then, it has been decided to simplify this approach. Progress on the first and third areas, essentially the policy-making agenda, will now be covered within the annual reports on the UK Sustainable Development Strategy, Achieving a Better Quality of Life. Thus information, for example on Integrated Policy Appraisal (IPA), the 2004 Spending Review (SR2004) and departmental sustainable development strategies, will be found in the next report in that sequence due to be published in the spring of 2004.

The SDiG Report will from now on focus on reporting the second of the priority areas, the performance of the Government Estate. This Report therefore covers progress by the twenty central Government Departments and their executive agencies with regard to the operation of the Estate, and provides a database for the year April 2002-March 2003 (the data from executive agencies are included in that of the parent Department) with some highlighted examples of best practice.

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Machinery of Government changes

Two changes in departmental structure took place either side of the reporting period April 2002- March 2003 . These are handled in the Report as follows:

in May 2002, the Department for Transport Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) was divided to create the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). Since this change happened at the start of the reporting year, all references in this report will be to DfT and ODPM;
in June 2003, the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) became the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA). Since this change happened after the end of the reporting year, all references in this Report will be to LCD.

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Feedback

We would welcome your comments and suggestions. Please send them to:

Sustainable Development in Government Team
Defra
Area 4E
9 Millbank
c/o Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR
Email: sdudiv@defra.gsi.gov.uk

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1: http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/sdig/reports/index.htm.
2: The data from executive agencies are included in that of the parent Department.
3: http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/sdig/improving/index.htm.
4: There is currently no consistent methodology for assessing the quality of the evidence provided for sustainable timber procurement if it is not certified. Defra is proposing to set up a Central Source of Expertise to set green standards for purchases of timber and products made from wood.

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Report 2003

Updated: 07 March 2005