Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 542: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the progress that has been made or planned in his and other Departments, local authorities, public entities and services towards the aim of implementing an environmentally progressive purchasing policy; the estimate of the total Government purchasing budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26381/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Finance has responsibility for public procurement policy. The website www.etenders.gov.ie, maintained by the national public procurement policy unit of the Department of Finance, contains comprehensive information on all aspects of public procurement, including guidance and clarification for public bodies on how environmental considerations may be taken into account and promoted in public procurement. The website also contains the EU Handbook on Environmental Public Procurement which was published in October 2004 by the European Commission and has the aim of explaining to public purchasers how to integrate environmental considerations into their purchasing practices for goods and services. The Department of Finance has indicated that the website is to be the principal means of disseminating procurement guidance.

It is estimated that the total Government purchasing budget is between €8 billion and €10 billion per annum. The Action at Work manual, launched in February 2005 as part of the race against waste campaign, contains useful guidance for organisations on how to green their procurement processes. The manual has been given wide circulation in the public sector and is available on the race against waste website, www.raceagainstwaste.ie.

My Department is the contact point for a survey of public sector bodies currently being carried out across all member states on behalf of the European Commission. The survey is intended to benchmark the level to which environmental considerations are currently integrated into the procurement processes of public bodies. The results are expected to inform the development of action plans on green public procurement envisaged as part of the implementation of the EU environmental technologies action plan.

My Department also promotes green procurement in the following ways: by adopting green procurement specifications for goods and services purchased for use by the Department itself and reporting on this in our annual report and on our website; by encouraging and facilitating the Government Supplies Agency to include a range of environmentally preferable products in its supply contracts for Government Departments; by participating in a tender for the supply of greener electricity as part of a contract organised by the Department of Finance.

In communications with local authorities on procurement, my Department provides advice and information regarding the inclusion of environmental criteria in the award of contracts. Furthermore, the national construction and demolition waste council, the national waste prevention committee and the market development group will be considering issues relating to the advancement of green procurement.