To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps are being taken to ensure that buildings on the Government Estate meet green building targets; and what steps have been taken in response to the National Audit Office’s Report “Building for the Future: Sustainable Construction and Refurbishment on the Government Estate”. (137356)

The UK Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan which was published on 5 March 2007, sets out detailed plans about how the Government will move towards a sustainably built and managed central government estate. This includes using sustainable procurement to make rapid progress against the cross-government sustainable operations targets announced in June 2006.

The Government welcome the publication of the National Audit Office’s Report on Sustainable Construction and Refurbishment on the Government Estate. Officials from the Office of Government Commerce and DEFRA will be providing further evidence in response to the Report at a Public Accounts Committee hearing in late June. I cannot go into detail in terms of next steps for responding to the NAO’s report before the hearing date, as this would pre-empt the Committee hearing.