Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive believes that civic society has an important role to play in furthering sustainable development in Scotland. A delegation representing civic society in Scotland will attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and will consist of:

Name	Organisation	Sector
Kevin Dunion	Friends of the Earth Scotland	Environmental NGOs
Belinda Miller	Aberdeen City Council	Local Authorities
Ian Russell	Scottish Power	Business
Stephanie Wiseman	Lunnasting Primary School, Shetland	Young people
Damien Killeen	The Poverty Alliance	Social justice NGOs
Donald Bruce	Action of Churches Together in Scotland	Bodies involved in overseas development work

Delegates were chosen in a variety of ways to achieve a balance of established leaders and fresh faces with particular commitment and dynamism. The civic delegation will make their own arrangements regarding travel, accommodation and programme for the Summit. The Executive has offered to pay the travel, accommodation and subsistence costs of four of the members of the civic delegation, and it is estimated that this will cost £7,000 in total.Each member will arrange their own programme to gain the greatest benefit possible from the Summit for their sector. Therefore the role of individual members will vary, but in general the delegation will raise awareness in their sector about the Summit and the issues it seeks to address, attend the events at the Summit most relevant to their particular sector, and be available to advise the First Minister and the Executive at the Summit. Most importantly these civic delegates will act as catalysts for concrete action to further sustainable development in their sector on their return.By supporting the civic delegation in this way, we believe that the Executive can help civic society in Scotland play their full part in building a Sustainable Scotland.

The Executive is considering possible options for reporting on the First Minister's attendance at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, and will ensure that both the Parliament and the public are informed in the most appropriate way.

The Scottish Executive makes representations to the United Nations through the UK Government. The Executive has prepared a report describing the work in Scotland on sustainable development since the Rio Summit in 1992 and the main points made in the stakeholder consultation undertaken last year. I have sent this to the UK Government to feed into reports they may make to the United Nations. Copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22146) and on the Executive website.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27505.

The Scottish Executive delegation will consist of the First Minister and three officials. The First Minister chose to attend personally to represent Scotland at the highest possible level and to show the importance that the Executive places on sustainable development. The officials chosen to support the First Minister are the Principal Private Secretary to the First Minister, a Special Adviser and the Head of Environment Group.A Scottish civic delegation will also attend the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development. Details of this civic delegation are given in the answer to question S1W-27506.

Much of the preparatory work, which included two comprehensive public consultations, is described in a report which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22146).In addition to the work summarised in that report, we have outlined our vision for a Sustainable Scotland and indicators to measure progress towards that vision in Meeting the Needs... which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 20879).In preparation for the Summit we are sharing our work with others - the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development spoke to the Stakeholder Forum conference on the World Summit on Sustainable Development on 16 July, 2002 in Birmingham. We have also brought together business, unions, public sector, voluntary organisations and interested members of the public for the first Scottish Sustainable Development Forum to discuss how we can take sustainable development forward in Scotland.We are also helping the young people's civic delegate, Stephanie Wiseman, to collect views about the Summit and sustainable development in preparation for the Summit.

The Executive does not plan a specific response to the 10 point action plan published by Link's steering group on the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Work is already progressing. Many of these action points and these areas are covered by other reports already published by the Executive, for example through Meeting the Needs and Scotland's Renewable Energy Potential-Beyond 2010 and through the establishment of the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum, which had its first meeting in Dundee on 24 July.

The programme for the Scottish Executive delegation is not yet finalised as the full programme for the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development has not been announced.The response to question S1W-27506 explains that the civic delegates will organise their own programmes.

The Scottish Executive delegation is part of the official UK delegation and the Scottish Executive will fully support the work of the UK delegation. However, the programme for the Scottish delegation will be based on the objectives outlined in the response to question S1W-27587, and the principles and priorities set out in our vision of a sustainable Scotland, Meeting the Needs..., which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 20879).The response to question S1W-27506 explains that members of the civic delegation will pursue independent programmes.

The Scottish Executive delegation will take a scheduled flight to Johannesburg for the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development.The Scottish Executive delegation will stay in hotel rooms allocated to the UK delegation.