Written question asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Tuesday, 25 July 2006.

Sustainable Development

Question: What steps they have taken to influence consumption patterns, including use of disposable products, since the publication of Securing the Future—UK Government sustainable development strategy.

Answer: One of the commitments in Securing the Future is the publication of an action plan to develop the Government’s policies for sustainable consumption and production (SCP) as set out in the strategy document. We are actively working on this. An important input to this is the sustainable consumption round-table’s recent report, which recommends ways in which government and business can enable people to exercise more sustainable consumption choices. The report is available at www.sd-commission.orq.uk/publications/downloads/I Will If You Will.pdf. Closely linked with this is the agenda for raising the standard of environmental performance across a range of consumer products, also set out in Securing the Future. We are currently developing an approach towards a cross-section of the most significant product areas (an approach described by the sustainable consumption round-table as ““product road-maps””), which will be an integral part of the overall SCP action plan.

Secondary information