"Over the last year energy costs have increased by 25%. Carbon reduction measures of the sort recommended by the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum can reduce annual costs by £650,000 for the average public sector organisation."

Matthew Hancock MP, Chair, WSBF inquiry, 'Leaner and Greener: Putting Buildings to Work'

'Leaner and Greener II: Putting Buildings to Work' published in November 2011 idenitified how financial benefits worth potentially £8 billion could be generated in the public sector by improving workforce productivity. This is achieved by improving workplace conditions and implementing more flexible ways of working, through reinvesting money saved in rationalising the property portfolio and improving the performance of the retained estate.

Leaner and Greener II followed the success of  the WSBF's ‘Leaner and Greener: Delivering Effective Estate Management’ report published in February 2011, which estimated that public sector organisations can also deliver £7 billion in savings from decreasing the space they occupy and through aggregation in property related procurement. Both reports were chaired by Matthew Hancock MP, who then sat on the Public Accounts Committee and is now Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Skills and were launched with Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

To read the report and find out more about the recommendations please click on the link to the right.

Press

The report recieved coverage from over 50 press outlets, please click on the links below to access a sample of the coverage:

The Guardian

The Telegraph

BusinessGreen

Conservative Home

The Guardian

Evening Standard