Big Sustainability Summit (2)

London, St Davids Day, 2011

Joan Whalley, Chair UK Government Environmental Audit Committee. It's all very well govt saying that there's an increased role for the EAC, but without additional resources, it's hard to see where the expertise that's needed is coming from. EAC meet once a week and will do everything that we can, but that's no substitute for the engine room that was the SDC. It's up to each of us to see how we can link in the scrutiny from our own organisations into parliament to ensure that there informed decisions based on scientific information.

The number of politicians making environmental enquiries is not high. "A huge amount of work can be done by people writing to their MPs, encouraging them to raise issues in Parliament" - and remember how much power we can have to provide evidence, and collect that evidence around the UK.