To review the Council’s environmental management / ISO 14001 system to ensure that it continues to be suitable, adequate and effective and deliver improvement in environmental performance.

The Committee were invited to consider the Council’s performance in respect of its environmental management/ ISO 14001 system to ensure that it continued to be suitable, adequate and effective in delivering improvement in environmental performance.

The Director of Environment reported that Good Environmental Management (GEM) helped the Council to deliver its corporate objective and environmental policy commitment across all Directorates.

The Environmental Sustainability Officer reported that during 2003/4 two surveillance visits had been made by external certifiers and only one corrective action had been raised.  Internal audits had been undertaken and the small number of weaknesses identified would be addressed over the coming year.  She further reported that while there had been a number of difficulties, in general, good progress had been made on the objectives in the 2003/4 programme (detailed in Appendix 1 to the report).  Appendix 2 to the report detailed the performance against each of the targets in 2003/4.

The Environmental Sustainability Officer further reported that the GEM programme for 2004/5 (Appendix 3 to the report) had been drawn up in conjunction with the GEM Group and relevant officers.  The 2002/03 objectives had been consolidated and made more quantifiable and the nine objectives included: 1% energy reduction in Council operational buildings; 1% reduction in business miles per head; 5% rise in public transport/cycling and waste recycling to cover 90% of major Council Sites.

The report commented on the Council’s partnership with Herefordshire Jarvis Services (HJS) and Owen Williams; communications, particularly in relation to the results of the Staff Opinion Survey 2003; concerns of relevant interested parties, notably relating to information security; GM crops and procurement. 

During the course of discussion the following principal points were made:

• While not directly under the control of the Council, schools were being encouraged to reduce energy consumption.
• Work was still progressing on achieving a robust baseline concerning the consumption of energy in Council premises.
• Good progress had been made in meeting Objective 1 (2003/4) relating to waste reduction.
• As part of the property portfolio, officers were still investigating the possible relocation of salt barns.
• A draft revised procurement strategy was expected for consultation at the end of the month.
• Information gathering continued in relation to the evaluation of water monitoring.
• The pilot flexible working scheme in Revenues and Benefits had been delayed due to difficulties with ICT links for home working.
• It was suggested that a report on the Herefordshire Partnership Appraisal tool, which included environmental considerations, be made to a future meeting.
• Annual grant contributions were made to community transport providers who provided transport throughout the County.  Monitoring of the schemes was undertaken by comparison with Performance Indicators set in service level agreements with the providers.  Potential existed for closer co-ordination of the service with the hospital car service in relation to health related transport.  Officers were also monitoring a pilot project currently underway in Worcester to evaluate whether such an approach could be adopted in Herefordshire.
• The Committee were pleased with the increase in the number of Eco-schools.
• The Committee noted that the Staff Travel Plan (car share scheme) had been positively received at the World Environment Day event, particularly by other large organisations who had shown an interest in joining the scheme.

The Committee congratulated the officers and noted that the Authority had been placed in the top quintile of local authority respondents in the West Midlands Environmental Index 2003, for the second year running, improving its score by nearly 10%.

RESOLVED:            That the GEM Performance 2003/4 report be noted.