Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Accepted
Central government bodies are required to report their emissions in two ways: through the GGCs...
Recommendation
Central government bodies are required to report their emissions in two ways: through the GGCs following guidance set by Defra; and in their annual reports following the Sustainability Reporting Guidance set by HM Treasury.32 These two sets of guidance are meant to be consistent, but there are differences between them which makes departmental reporting of emissions more difficult than it needs to be. For example, HM Treasury’s guidance requires central government bodies to report emissions by scope, whereas the GGCs requires them to divide them in a different way.33 BEIS accepted that these inconsistencies need to be sorted out and agreed to come back to us with a timetable as to when this would be done.34
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to consolidate, simplify, and clarify current measuring and reporting guidance with clear expectations for reporting and processes for addressing non-compliance; new processes ensuring reporting from all bodies in scope were set out in the updated GGCs Reporting Requirements, and a GGCs exemptions audit will be published with the 2021-22 GGCs Annual Report. Target implementation date is Summer 2023.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3. PAC conclusion: Leadership and oversight of emissions measurement and reporting in central government is fragmented and ineffective. 3. PAC recommendation: BEIS, HM Treasury and Defra should work together to consolidate, simplify and clarify current measuring and reporting guidance. This should set out clear expectations for reporting across central government as well as the processes that will be followed in addressing non-compliance. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2023 3.2 Government agrees guidance should be aligned where possible, particularly where there are direct references between documents, as is the case with the Sustainability Reporting Guidance (SRG) and GGCs. However, the government also notes that there are cases where different documents may be required for different purposes. 3.3 In late 2022, the updated GGCs Reporting Requirements resolved terminology differences between the GGCs and SRG. In the recently published SRG 2022-23, HM Treasury has provided further clarifications and summarised areas of necessary difference with GGCs requirements. 3.4 All non-exempt central government departments and partner organisations are required to report sustainability data both in annual reports and accounts (as set out in SRG) and through GGCs. In 2022, Defra conducted a GGCs exemptions audit, which will be published with the 2021-22 GGCs Annual Report. New processes ensuring reporting from all bodies in scope were also set out in the updated GGCs Reporting Requirements. Processes for non-compliance are as set out in response to the Committee’s first recommendation. 3.5 As international standard setters and the UK private sector develop and implement sustainability reporting standards, relevant authorities across the public sector, including HM Treasury, will consider future reporting strategies for public sector annual reports with consistency as a key consideration. 3.6 To help clarify current arrangements for wider public sector organisations, BEIS has commissioned work to signpost relevant guidance, to be published in early 2023. BEIS will also provide an update on cross-cutting public sector guidance as part of the summer 2023 timeline described in response to the second recommendation.