Environmental Performance of Public Bodies

This information relates to work carried out from 2004 to 2007 during a previous administration.

Environmental Performance of Public Bodies Initiative

Action by Scottish Government Agencies and Public Bodies

In 2004 the Cabinet agreed that the then Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Ross Finnie, should take the lead on encouraging Scottish Government NDPBs and Agencies to develop their environmental management systems. These bodies were asked to audit where they were in areas such as energy use, waste minimisation, use of recycled materials, travel, water use, procurement and biodiversity. Following their audit they were asked to adopt suitable environmental management policies which would include specific environmental targets for 2006-07.

Once these policies, procedures and targets were in place, agencies and public bodies would be required to report annually on their performance, either in their annual reports or in a freestanding document. This information would also be collated annually and published on the Scottish Government website.

As agreed by Cabinet NHS bodies, local authorities, the police and fire services were excluded from this exercise as they are covered by other requirements. Some advisory bodies and tribunals were also excluded at this time as they have no assets that they manage directly.

This initiative formed part of Choosing Our Future, Scotland's Sustainable Development Strategy. It was one of the measures introduced to reduce Scotland's global environmental impact in the Public Sector. 51 organisations were asked to provide policies and targets.

The publication of current policies and targets was used as a benchmark for subsequent improvement. The quality of the documentation varied as many of these bodies identified their baselines and developed their policies, procedures and targets for the first time.

To ensure that the majority of these organisations adopted appropriate policies the Government provided advice and guidance to strengthen the policies and targets in place. For areas that fell below acceptable standards, officials met with individual public bodies to discuss ways of strengthening their policies and targets as well as assessing what other help and assistance was necessary to make sure that they fully complied with this initiative.

New agencies and NDPBs were added to this initiative, e.g. Transport Scotland, the Social Work Inspection Agency, Architecture and Design Scotland, the University for Industry and the Risk Management Authority.

Reports from Public Bodies

Accountant in Bankruptcy

Audit Scotland

* Bord Gaidhlig na h-Alba

Cairngorms National Park Authority

Caledonian MacBrayne

Care Commission

* Communities Scotland

Crofters Commission

Deer Commission for Scotland

Fisheries Research Services

* General Register Office for Scotland