The Sustainable Development Commission said that government needs to be more consistent, broader and accurate in reporting, collating and managing its data on travel.
It has to cover all modes of business travel, commuting and visitor travel. This would help to produce strategies for more environmentally friendly travel in the future.
It made the statement in response to a report it commissioned from JMP Consultants titled A Review of Government Travel. Its main finding is that management information on departmental travel is hard to source and limited in scope, and that this has prevented detailed analysis on the subject.
The report says there is evidence of individual departments making progress in the area, citing the example of Buying Solutions' access database enabling it to assess key environmental impacts. But the information on expenditure, frequency and types of business trips and environmental impacts is still too limited.
It says this should be readily available, and makes a number of recommendations. These include Buying Solutions carrying out a study on how travel data is compiled by departments, working with them to ensure it is accurate, and making its travel database widely available.
It also recommends that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs mandates the collection of management information from all forms of business travel and employee commuting. This should help government to understand its travel patterns and improve performance.
