Issue - items at meetings - WRITTEN QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS

(i)    Sustainable procurement. Question from Councillor Steedman (copy attached).

 

(ii)  Peak oil production. Question from Councillor Steedman (copy attached).

34(i)   Question – sustainable procurement

 

34.1       Councillor Steedman had submitted a question asking:

 

“At the previous Sustainability Cabinet Committee, members discussed the new ‘Procurement Code of Practice – Sustainability’ and rejected proposals for minimum sustainability standards for purchases made by the authority.

 

Could Cllr Mears please let me know the following information:

 

§       The number of refrigerators, freezers and fridge-freezer combinations; washing machines; electric tumble dryers; combined washer-dryers; dishwashers; lamps; electric ovens; and air conditioners purchased by the Council in the last year and the A++ - G rating given to each product on its mandatory Energy Label?

 

§       The number of cars and vans purchased or leased by the authority during the last year and the A-G carbon emissions rating given to each?

 

§       The amount of a) chicken and b) eggs purchased by the authority/supplied through the Council’s catering contracts in the last year and the proportion of this which was free-range?

 

§       The amount of fish and fish products purchased by the authority/supplied through the Council’s catering contracts in the last year and the proportion which were either Marine Stewardship Council-certified or appeared on the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Fish to East’ list?

 

The amount of wooden office furniture purchased by the authority in the last year and the proportion of this which was a) Forest Stewardship Council-certified; b) covered by another sustainability certification scheme?”

 

34.2       The Chairman circulated the following written response:

 

“This is a very detailed and complex set of questions, which would have required a disproportionate amount of officer time to answer in full detail.  But officers have produced the following summary:

 

§       While we have extensive records of the “white goods” bought by the council over the past year on our financial system, this does not extend to their energy ratings.

 

§       The council’s Fleet Manager was already undertaking a detailed review of our fleet, purchase and lease arrangements; data for the last year is not immediately available but once the review is complete, we will send you details.

 

§        The amount of a) chicken: 1872 products – diced, strips etc – none of which was free range.  b) Approximately 18,000 eggs a very small percentage <1% were free range. c) 2055 fish and/or fish products were purchased by the authority/supplied to the school meals contracts in the last year - none of this was either Marine Stewardship Council-certified or appeared on the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Fish to Eat’ list.

 

§       On a more positive note, we aim by September 2009 to have gained the Bronze Food for Life accreditation for school meals served within BHCC Primary Schools, which includes the use of eggs from cage free hens. More information can be found at http://www.foodforlife.org.uk/awards/criteria/bronze

 

§       Furniture expenditure for the calendar year 2008 was £128,006.58. Suppliers Portsdown Office furniture said all of the wooden furniture we buy is covered by the FSC certification; while Eurotek confirmed that all their wood-based products are accredited with FSC and PEFC certification. Eurotek were also one of the first furniture manufactures to receive FISP award (Furniture Industry Sustainability Program) and in fact have been used as the benchmark of good practice.  They have also calculated the carbon footprint of our products.

 

Looking ahead the Environmental Management System proposed for introduction at this meeting will steadily address any shortcomings in sustainable procurement – this is covered in paragraphs 3.4, 3.5 and 3.10 of the report on the agenda today.”

 

34.3       Councillor Steedman asked the following supplementary question:

 

“Do you not agree that by setting minimum sustainability standards for purchases made by the authority, determining such information would become much easier?”

 

34.4       The Chairman gave the following response:

 

“A significant amount of work is being done around procurement, with a particular focus on the council’s fleet of vehicles. Setting minimum standards could have a negative effect with suppliers doing the bare minimum, instead of striving for higher standards. We want to ensure that we can demand higher standards wherever possible.”

 

34.5       The Lead Councillor for Sustainability added that the council held open days so that members of the public could utilise old furniture with only a nominal charge made for delivery. This could be seen as the first stage towards recycling in this area.

 

34.6       The Chairman reiterated that the council was seeking Bronze Food for Life accreditation for Primary schools.

 

34(ii)  Question – peak oil production

 

34.7       Councillor Steedman had submitted a question asking:

 

“There are also very real fears in the energy industry and more widely that global oil supply will soon fail to meet demand, putting up prices of oil and gas (the price of which is pegged to oil’s) and leading to potential security of supply problems.  Peak oil production is the point at which existing oil reserves can no longer be replaced by new ones.  Conventional wisdom has been that the peak is many years in the future, but the International Energy Agency has warned of an oil crunch by 2013. Other authoritative voices warn of severe problems sooner than this.”

 

So says the draft text of the City Sustainability Partnership’s input to the consultation draft of the Local Strategic Partnership’s refresh of the Sustainable Community Strategy.

 

Could Cllr Mears tell me what preparations her administration has made to protect the residents of the city from the consequences of peak oil, especially, but not exclusively, in regard to:

 

-        the local economy;

-        transport;

-        energy use and bills for the Council and for local residents;

-        planning and the built environment;

-        food;

-        emergency planning?”

 

34.8       The Chairman had circulated the following written response:

 

“The implications of the Peak Oil issue are a matter for national government to advise us on, right across all the sectors you have mentioned.

 

Any failure of global oil supply or security of national supply chains are matters first to be addressed by central rather than local government, and its plans (e.g. National fuel emergency plan NEP-F) would be implemented if and when the risks were felt to be sufficiently severe.

 

Business continuity plans for council teams look at how they respond to potential risks and if the global oil supply becomes one of them then teams will consider this how to plan to mitigate any issues for the service.

 

The council’s emergency plan is similarly based on nationally, regionally and locally relevant risks relating to actual emergencies as defined by relevant legislation / guidance - and is regularly reviewed on the latest information made available.

 

We are, of course, also supporting local resilience through the Be Local, Buy Local campaign which supports the local economy, local businesses and localised transport.”

 

34.9       Councillor Steedman asked the following supplementary question:

 

“Do you not agree that more must be done locally with regard to Peak Oil, and that this Cabinet Committee should ask for a scrutiny investigation to take place?”

 

34.10    The Chairman advised that the council was restricted to the powers delegated to it by central government and that until clear guidelines had been handed down little could be done at a local level.