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Part A: Overarching Commitments

Part A of the Framework, published in July 2002, outlines the scope of the Framework and sets targets for Government Departments to adopt environmental management systems (EMSs) and to commit to public reporting.

The Government Estate employs over 692,000 staff and has over 50,000 buildings on an area covering more than a quarter of a million hectares. Departments have mainly office buildings, with the exception of MoD (military estate), DCA (courts), HO (prisons), ONS (census and registration records offices) and DCMS (Royal Parks).

Much of the Estate is covered by the Framework, but Departments have flexibility to decide and justify which parts of their estate to include. Further information can be found on Departmental Framework websites.

Identifying Significant Impacts (Target A1)

Target A1 requires all Departments to complete and publish the following information on their Departmental websites by 31 October 2002:

Provide a clear description of their estate, including Executive Agencies, staff numbers, buildings and any land managed;
Identify their most significant sustainable development impacts in relation to operation of the estate;
Identify any part of their estate which will not be covered by the commitments set out in the Framework and give a justification.

In the 2003-04 SDiG questionnaire, all Departments were required to provide estate information, including Executive Agencies, total size of estate (buildings and land) and total number of full time equivalent staff. This information has been included in the database.

As recorded in last years SDiG report, all Departments have descriptions of their estates on their websites, have identified their most significant sustainable development impacts and those parts of their estate which will not be covered in the Framework.

Publishing Delivery Plans (Target A2)

Within four months of the announcement of each suite of targets in the Framework, all Departments should publish a strategy showing how they plan to deliver targets on their Departmental websites (MoD has six months due to the very large scale of its estate).

Figure 1 outlined when each part of the Framework was published. By the end of the reporting period for this report (March 2004), each Department should have a delivery plan for the first four published parts:

Part A: Overarching Commitments
Part B: Travel
Part C: Water
Part H: Biodiversity

If a Department has concluded that its impact is insignificant in a particular area (in comparison to its other impacts identified under Target A1) and that pursuit of targets would not be an effective use of resources, the Department should publish a statement to that effect on the same timescale as that for strategies to deliver targets.

Last year twelve Departments had developed and published delivery plans for the first three target areas (Overarching Commitments, Travel and Water). This has now improved so that all Departments have developed delivery plans where relevant and most of these are published.

Figure 2 outlines Departmental progress against developing and publishing targets delivery plans.

Figure 2: Departmental progress against developing and publishing target delivery plans

Dept.	Target A2 Delivery Plans
	Part A Overarching Commitments		Part B Travel		Part C Water		Part H Biodiversity
	Deve- loped	Pub- lished	Deve- loped	Pub- lished	Deve- loped	Pub- lished	Deve- loped	Pub- lished
C&E	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
CO	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a
DCA	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
DCMS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Defra	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
DfES	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
DfID	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
DfT	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
DoH	Yes	Yes	No	Statement	Yes	Yes	n/a	Statement
DTI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	Statement
DWP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ECGD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	Statement	n/a	n/a
FCO	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HMT	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	n/a	n/a
HO	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
IR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
LOD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
MoD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ODPM	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
ONS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Notes: 'Yes' - Department has met target to some extent; 'No' - Department has missed target; n/a - not applicable.

At 30 March 2004, ten Departments had developed and published delivery plans for all four of the published target areas (Defra, DfES, DWP, DTI, ECGD, FCO, HO, MoD, ONS and CO). No Department except Defra published all four delivery plans within the required four months. Key reasons for late delivery noted on Departmental returns included lack of resources, lack of data and/or delays related to ongoing internal discussion and approval.

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) (Target A3)

An environmental management system (EMS) provides a way of systematically identifying, recording, controlling and monitoring environmental issues. It can help to improve existing management systems and efficiency, reduce costs and ensure compliance with environmental regulations and internal procedures. Several independent, accredited EMS standards have been set up such as ISO14001 and EMAS. Departments have the choice whether or not to register their EMS against one of these standards.

The Government has committed to increasing the uptake of EMSs by Departments. The Framework requires all Departments to implement an EMS based, or modelled upon, a recognised standard (such as ISO14001, EMAS or similar) within the following timeframes:

For mainly office based estates

For mixed or mainly non-office estates

Systems will be in place to cover:

all main offices by 31 March 2004
all other offices/sites by 31 March 2006

Systems should be in place to cover:

40 per cent of estate by 31 March 2004
80 per cent of estate by 31 March 2006

Main offices are defined as those with fifty staff or more. Departments should give priority to their most significant aspects and select milestone measures most appropriate to their estate mix.

Last year, all Departments except CO, DfES and DCA reported that they had an EMS covering all or part of their estate. Thirteen Departments had ISO14001 certification in whole or part, covering around 20 per cent of total office staff.

For this reporting period, Departments were asked to categorise themselves as either:

A: Mainly Office Based
B: Mixed or Mainly Non-Office

and to provide EMS data accordingly. Figure 3 provides a summary of Departmental performance.

Figure 3: Departmental progress regarding EMS implementation, April 03 - March 04

Dept.	Main Office Based Sites		% of main office based staff covered by certified EMS	Other Office Based Sites		Mixed or Mainly Non-Office
Dept.	Progress with EMS	Certified	% of main office based staff covered by certified EMS	Progress with EMS	Certified	Progress with EMS	Certified
C&E	Yes	Yes	7.5%	Being Considered	0%	n/a	n/a
CO	In Progress	n/a	0%	n/a	n/a	In Progress	0%
DCA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Yes	No
DCMS	Yes	Yes	100%	Yes	?	n/a	n/a
Defra	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Yes	Yes
DfES	In Progress	n/a	0%	?	?	n/a	n/a
DfID	In Progress	n/a	0%	?	?	n/a	n/a
DfT	Yes	Yes	19%	In Progress	0%	n/a	n/a
DoH	Yes	Yes	3%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
DTI	Yes	Yes	60%	In Progress	0%	Yes	No
DWP	Yes	Yes	70%	?	?	Yes	Yes
ECGD	Yes	No	85%	?	?	n/a	n/a
FCO	Yes	Yes	100%	n/a	n/a	In Progress	0%
HMT	In Progress	n/a	0%	?	?	n/a	n/a
HO	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Yes	Yes
IR	Yes	Yes	20%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
LOD	In Progress	n/a	0%	Being Considered	0%	n/a	n/a
MoD	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Yes	Yes
ODPM	Yes	Yes	22%	?	?	Yes	No
ONS	Yes	Yes	95%	Being Considered	0%	n/a	n/a

Notes: ? - no data supplied; n/a - no offices of this type.

Eleven Departments have implemented an EMS at main office based sites and of these, ten had also achieved independent certification. A further five Departments reported that they were currently implementing an EMS. The degree of main office based staff coverage varied, with DCMS and FCO achieving 100 per cent and DoH achieving 3 per cent.

Departments had more difficulty reporting progress for other office based sites. No Departments had an EMS covering their smaller office sites. DfT and DTI are currently implementing an EMS covering at least some of their other office sites and C&E, LOD and ONS reported that they were considering or planning to implement an EMS.

For those Departments with mainly mixed or non-office based sites, seven Departments had implemented an EMS covering at least part of their estate. MoD has EMS systems based on ISO14001 covering approximately 64% of their estate, of which 8 sites have ISO14001 certification. Of these, Defra, DWP and HO had achieved independent certification. FCO and CO are currently implementing an EMS.

Public Reporting (Targets A4 and A5)

Targets A4 and A5 relate to public reporting of Departments' sustainable development impacts and the verification of performance data. By October 2002, all Departments were asked to review their arrangements for public reporting of their sustainable development impacts including:

Environmental performance of buildings and facilities;
Social impacts of the Department; and
Policies which contribute to sustainable development objectives particularly headline indicators.

By April 2003, all Departments should have had arrangements in place to report publicly on their key sustainable development impacts and to verify their performance data.

In 2002-03 seventeen Departments reported on the sustainable development impacts of their estate operations. As outlined in Figure 4 this has now improved for the financial year 2003-04 to nineteen Departments. HMT expects to be in a position to report publicly by the end of the reporting period.

Twelve Departments report within their own Departmental annual reports, five prepare separate reports and ONS use both channels. CO only report on performance through the SDIG Annual Report. Most Departments publish their reports both in hard format and on their websites. Only DTI did not publish on its website during the reporting period.

Eighteen Departments (excluding LOD and HMT) report on the environmental performance of their buildings and facilities. Sixteen Departments report on the social impacts of their operations (excluding Defra, DfT, HMT and ONS). Estate management policies contributing to sustainable development objectives are also outlined by sixteen Departments (excluding ECGD, FCO, HMT and ODPM). HMT plans to report on all of these areas when its first report is published.

Verification

Verification is an important element of Government reporting as it works to ensure that performance data are accurate and that qualitative statements give a fair and accurate picture of performance. Verification also helps to identify areas where management systems and information, as well as performance, require improvements. As a minimum, Departments should use internal resources and systems to review their performance and check data for accuracy and completeness. Departments may wish to go further, and seek the use of external parties to provide independent verification.

In line with 2002-03, eighteen Departments had arrangements in place to verify their data, at least in part. Only six Departments in 2003-04 used an external verifier for some or all of their performance data (DCMS, Defra, DfT, DoH, HMT and FCO). ECGD does not currently verify its data and has no plans to do so due to the size of its estate. DfES is currently considering its verification options.

Figure 4 summarises Departmental progress against the overarching commitment targets as a whole.

Figure 4: Summary of Progress Against Overarching Commitment

Dept.	Performance Against Targets
	A1 Identify Significant Impacts	A2 Publish Delivery Plans (Part A Only)	A3 Implement EMS			A4 Public Reporting of SD Performance	A5 Verification of Performance Data
	A1 Identify Significant Impacts	A2 Publish Delivery Plans (Part A Only)	Main Office Based Sites	Other Office Based Sites	Mixed / Non- Office Sites	A4 Public Reporting of SD Performance	Verified?	Internal or External
C&E	Yes	Yes	Yes	Being Considered	n/a	Yes	Yes	Internal
CO	Yes	Yes	In Progress	n/a	In Progress	Yes	Yes	Internal
DCA	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes	Internal
DCMS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	External
Defra	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes	External
DfES	Yes	Yes	In Progress	?	n/a	Yes	No	n/a
DfID	Yes	Yes	In Progress	?	n/a	Yes	Yes	Internal
DfT	Yes	Yes	Yes	In Progress	n/a	Yes	Yes	External
DoH	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	Yes	Yes	External
DTI	Yes	Yes	Yes	In Progress	Yes	Yes	Yes	Internal
DWP	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Internal
ECGD	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	n/a	Yes	No	n/a
FCO	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	In Progress	Yes	Yes	External
HMT	Yes	Yes	In Progress	?	n/a	No	Yes	External
HO	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes	Internal
IR	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a	Yes	Yes	Internal
LOD	Yes	Yes	In Progress	Being Considered	n/a	Yes	Yes	Internal
MoD	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes	Internal
ODPM	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Internal
ONS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Being Considered	n/a	Yes	Yes	Internal

Notes: 'Yes' - Department has met target to some extent; 'No' - Department has missed target; n/a - not applicable; ? - data not provided.

MoD and Plans for Public Reporting

In line with the requirements set out by the Framework MoD has made arrangements to report publicly on key sustainable development impacts including performance against targets. The MoD annual Sustainable Development report will set out performance against sixteen headline indicators, identified as significant by the Department. The indicators are:

SD and Environmental Management in Defence (environmental management systems and appraisals)
Environmental Protection in Defence (heritage, biodiversity, water, climate change (energy and travel); waste, contaminated land, nuclear materials)
Defence as an employer (IiP, health, safety and well being, diversity, work life balance)
Defence in the Community (community involvement, volunteering)
Impact of Defence on the Economy (acquisition)

These indicators will be reviewed on an annual basis. The report will reflect the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines for best practice in SD reporting and will be publicly available through MoD's webpage. The report will also link to existing MoD reports (e.g. Annual Stewardship Report, Sanctuary and Historic Buildings Report) that address key aspects of the SD Agenda.

Departmental Data

For more detail on the how specific Departments within the UK Government are achieveing these targets, please access our Search Departmental Data section.

Report 2004

Updated: 07 March 2005

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