Guidance for policy makers
We provide a number of resources specifically intended for use by policy-makers elsewhere in government:
Wider Environmental and Sustainable Development Impact Tests
The Wider Environmental and Sustainable Development Impact Tests are designed to help government departments in their Policy Appraisal, for example in completing Business Cases and Impact Assessments.
This material explains to policy officials what they need to do to identify the Wider Environmental and Sustainable Development impacts of their policy options and provides guidance on how to assess those impacts.
Information from the Wider Environmental Test feeds into the Sustainable Development Test so, after reading through both, it may make sense to tackle the Wider Environmental Test first.
The Wider Environmental test covers all environmental impacts except for changes in greenhouse gases which are covered in a separate test.
Rural proofing
Rural proofing is a long-standing process which requires policy-makers across Government to ensure that the needs and interests of rural people, communities and businesses are properly considered in the development and implementation of all policies and programmes.