Government sustainability watchdog axed

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The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) will no longer receive government funding, the department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) announced today.

The news comes on the day that the SDC published a report revealing how sustainability measures under Labour led to efficiency savings.

Moves towards greater sustainability made by the previous administration save government £60- £70m every year, the SDC’s fifth annual report reveals.

But in a ministerial statement issued this morning environment secretary Caroline Spelman said she is committed to reducing the numbers and cost of departmental bodies.

‘Times have changed since many of these bodies were set up and much of what they do is now everyday government business.’

She added: ‘We will continue to liaise closely with the Sustainable Development Commission’s partners and will work with business, civil society, local communities, universities and internationally, to help deliver sustainable development together.’

The SDC will see its funding withdrawn from the next financial year.

Will Day, chair of the SDC, said: ‘We are deeply disappointed that the government has announced its intention to withdraw its funding. We await with interest the details of how a degree of cross-government independent scrutiny is to be achieved.’

He said it is particularly important to ensure that the UK government can measure and verify its commitment to becoming the ‘greenest government ever’.

Ms Spelman set out plans to reform more than thirty of Defra’s arm’s length bodies, including abolishing the inland waterways advisory council.

All necessary approvals to abolish and dissolve Defra’s arm’s length bodies will be made via the Public Bodies Reform Bill.

SDC’s final report, which calls on the government to step up its green ambitions, came ahead of Ms Spelman’s announcement.

Improvements in energy and water consumption, waste, recycling and road transport performance are likely to add up to between £300m and £350m over five years, even if no further progress is made, it said.

The report finds that the savings made to date are only the tip of the iceberg and argues that the government should extend its commitment beyond carbon to a wider range of sustainability issues to including water and waste.

Such a move would enable the new government to save hundreds of millions more over the course of this parliament, it says.