Website of the Department of Health

Joint statement from the PH Minister and the Permanent Secretary

The Department of Health is pleased to present its first Sustainable Development Action Plan.

The UK's Sustainable Development Strategy, Securing the Future, identified under its 5 guiding principles, 4 priority areas for action. Already a number of existing Department of Health policies contribute to sustainable development; our health focus on communities (eg. action on health inequalities), our health focus on the environment (eg. encouraging choice of good food, and enjoyment of an active lifestyle) and our health focus on the economy (eg. recognising the link between poverty and ill health).

The Department of Health is pleased to commit to this agenda for the long term; to address choices now that we hope will provide some protection for future generations. The Department is working with its own staff and the communities in which they work to start to put its own house in order, to face the facts of a changing climate, depleting resources, and loss of green space and biodiversity. We know that we can do better to live within environmental limits. We know we can also do more to contribute to a strong, healthy and just society, and we are developing ways to take this forward. We are responding to the sustainable development challenge by recognising that our world of work and the staff we employ have a considerable contribution to make, and we can make a start by leading by example.

Many people are already contributing to developing this approach, but now, with our first Sustainable Development Action Plan, we would like to involve everyone.

Caroline Flint MP, Public Health Minister
Hugh Taylor, Acting Permanent Secretary