• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Environmental Audit Committee Oral evidence: The Sustainability of the Ministry of Defence, HC 533 Tuesday 30 June 2020 Ordered by the House of Commons to be published on 30 June 2020. Watch the meeting Members present: Philip Dunne (Chair); Duncan Baker; Feryal Clark; Barry Gardiner; Mr Robert Goodwill; Ian Levy; Caroline Lucas; Jerome Mayhew; Dr Matthew Offord. Questions 1 - 53 Witnesses I: Jeremy Quin MP, Minister for Defence Procurement; Major General Nick Cavanagh CB, Director of Strategy and Planning, Defence Infrastructure Organisation; Air Marshal Richard Knighton CB, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Military Capability); and Lieutenant General Richard E. Nugee CB CVO CBE, Climate Change and Sustainability Lead for Defence. Examination of Witnesses Witnesses: Jeremy Quin MP, Major General Nick Cavanagh CB, Air Marshal Richard Knighton CB and Lieutenant General Richard E. Nugee CB CVO CBE. Q1 Chair: Welcome to the Environmental Audit Committee. Today we have an evidence session with the Ministry of Defence to discuss the greening government commitments of the Ministry following a National Audit Office report into the Department. I am delighted that we have with us the Minister for Defence Procurement, Jeremy Quin. Jeremy, could you introduce yourself and the team of senior officers you have with you? Jeremy Quin: Good morning, Chairman. Thank you very much for having us here this morning. If I may introduce the team alongside me: General Richard Nugee, General Nick Cavanagh and Air Marshal Rich Knighton. I think each of them will introduce themselves in turn and explain their particular aspects for today’s briefing. Lieutenant General Nugee: Good morning, Chairman. Richard Nugee. I am the Lead for Climate Change and Sustainability, writing a review of the Ministry of Defence’s approach until the end of this year. Major General Cavanagh: Good morning, Chairman. My name is Major General Nick Cavanagh. I am currently the Director of Strategy and Planning in the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, which is the Defence’s infrastructure advisory and delivery agency. Air Marshal Knighton: Good morning, Chair. Air Marshal Richard Knighton. I am the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff for Military Capability and I have responsibility for our future plans for equipment and military capability. Q2 Chair: Thank you very much indeed. We have an almost full Committee today and we have a series of questions we would like to put to you. The Ministry of Defence is one of the largest Departments of Government. This Committee has taken an interest in how the Government are going to achieve a net zero Government. In the last Parliament we began a cross-departmental review of how the Government can lead the way on the path to net zero. We asked the National Audit Office to review each of the most significant Departments with carbon footprints to help stimulate some thinking on the part of the Department to ensure that this is high on your agenda. I can start by saying how relatively pleased I was by the quality of the report from the NAO—that is not a surprise—and by the encouraging signals that it has been giving about the commitment of the Department. Much of it is to do with some of the peripheral rather than core military activities of the Department, which is perhaps not surprising. Minister, given that you are relatively new in post, this is probably not top of your priority list at the moment, but could you give us an overview of how you see the Department meeting its net zero obligations? Where does that sit within the list of the many issues you have to contend with? Jeremy Quin: Thank you, Chairman. As you know from your own experience, there is a lot to do in the role of Min DP, but I am pleased to say that this is a very prominent issue inside the MoD. We can discuss the greening government commitments and where we have achieved— and, indeed, in one or two cases failed to achieve—our objectives on that, but there is a picture there that we in many areas are pleased with, and we would be more than happy to discuss more up-to-date numbers than were available at the time of the NAO report. Perhaps more importantly, from the Committee’s perspective, is the future. We have had two decades of policies in place regarding sustainability. That has been given far more impetus with the commitment to net zero 2050. That is why I was very pleased that before I arrived, General Nugee had been appointed to lead this work. We look forward to his report at the end of this year about how we go further in meeting those obligations, so I am sure that is an issue that we will be discussing through the Committee today. To reassure all of you—and reassure you, Chairman—it does have a lot of prominence. As the NAO brings out, we have a record of taking practical measures—for example, around procurement—to improve sustainability, and the report is an exciting opportunity for the Ministry of Defence to go further and build on existing work. Q3 Chair: Have you had a conversation with the Secretary of State on this subject since you have been in post? Jeremy Quin: Yes, I have, in the lead up to this Committee, certainly. Q4 Chair: Is there an acceptance across the Commands that there is a job to be done here, and are you able to highlight any particular areas where you think there are obvious gaps and measures that could be taken? Jeremy Quin: I would not identify gaps. I think there is recognition that we need to go further. As you will recognise, Chairman, as a Department we are incredibly important when it comes to climate change and the progress that we, as a Government, need to make towards hitting those ambitions. We are very acutely aware of the challenge that we face. There is a lot of work to be done. I do not think there are specific gaps, because there is work being done in all the key areas. Probably half of our carbon comes from equipment, and we have always looked at procurement through that lens. Some 30% comes from our infrastructure and there is work ongoing on that. I do not want to pre-empt where General Nugee gets to with his report. The report is there for a reason and for serious purpose, and we all want to see what emerges. A lot of thorough and detailed work is being done on what we can do to improve. There will be areas—I am absolutely certain—in addition to the areas already highlighted in our Defence plan that are being executed by the Commands that we will need to improve upon. Q5 Chair: Have you taken away any action points for the areas that the NAO report has highlighted where the Department is not achieving its objectives? I am looking at water use, domestic flights, paper use—some of these things that we might think are marginal to your role. If you took a lead in eliminating paper—I say this having walked around the fifth floor—you would have a much tidier office. I have not been into your office, but the rest of the floor would. Jeremy Quin: I can assure the Chairman that it is probably a much more sparsely populated office than he was used to. On a serious point, an extra 10,000 laptops have gone out in the last few months. The number of people in a position to work from home in the Department has massively increased, as has been the case, I am sure, across Government and more broadly. For all of us across Government, it will be interesting to see how we can entrench some of those necessary reforms of the last few months, and cutting paper use is going to give us a significant boost. I am pleased to say that since the NAO numbers, 15 months on, we have had an improvement in terms of paper use. It is now about 40%. It has still not hit the 50% target. On water, which you referred to, Chairman, again we are at about 11%, versus our 15% reduction target. It is not good enough, but progress is being made. What pleases me from my position is seeing the actions that have been taken on the water consumption reduction system and water efficiency management system to actually get better numbers and better data. We may not have hit the targets, but I can be told why: about a leak on a jetty at Portsmouth, and the visible increase in water utilisation on the Clyde as we increase production there. We have better data coming through as to the issues. On the upside, I can tell you that we have managed to improve the performance of 2,500 urinals. It gets to that level of detail, so that I do think we are in a better position to monitor and have metrics around utilisation and there are schemes to improve that in terms of water utilisation in the coming years. Q6 Chair: We will be coming on to land use and the buildings for which DIO is responsible shortly. The MoD is one of the largest landowners within Government. You have some of the most pristine landscapes and land features on ranges that need to be kept free of human beings and equipment. Do you have plans for significant deployment of some of that land for environmental purposes, to create some of the peatland restoration, and meet some of the tree planting targets? Is this what will come from General Nugee’s report, or has work been done in this area already? Jeremy Quin: Work is being extensively looked at throughout a long period, Chairman.

Load more

  31

Copy Link