From Alastair Chisholm & Bruce Horton:
In the wake of agencies like Natural England stopping their indicator work Defra are consulting on the indicator framework for the 25 year plan. It has identified 15 headline indicators and 65 ‘system’ indicators
Introduction Summary: The government launched the 25 Year Environment Plan in January 2018 and the Draft Environment Bill will make it a statutory duty for the Secretary of State to have such a plan for improving the natural environment. A key commitment in the plan was to engage widely as we develop a comprehensive set of indicators, which collectively describes environmental change as it relates to the ten goals in the 25 Year Environment Plan. Additionally the Draft Environment Bill requires the Secretary of State to obtain relevant data to monitor whether the environment or aspects of it are improving in accordance with the plan. This document sets out a draft framework of indicators for the 25 Year Environment Plan as the basis for wider discussions with experts and stakeholders. We are seeking views on the framework as well as the specific indicators proposed. The draft framework includes a set of 65 indicators which aim to track changes in the environment system as a whole covering: the state of environmental assets (including air,
The draft framework includes a set of 65 indicators which aim to track changes in the environment system as a whole covering: the state of environmental assets (including air, water, land, seas and wildlife); the main pressures being placed on them (for example pollution, or plant disease); and, the benefits people receive from the environment. This is in line with the concept of natural capital – defined as the ‘elements of the natural environment which provide valuable goods and services to people such as clean air, clean water, food and recreation’ 1. Drawing from this broader set of 65, we have identified 15 headline indicators aimed at providing an overall summary of change for a wide audience. The indicators, like the 25 Year Environment Plan itself, have a geographical scope of England, and UK interests internationally, though in some cases data are only available for the UK. Our draft set of indicators is presented in Section B. The proposed headline indicators are described in Section C. Further technical details about the indicators are presented in Section D. We wish continue our discussions with stakeholders and experts to test and improve this draft. framework and to ensure it is cost-effective. We intend to produce a first report on the finalised framework in early 2019, noting that the framework will need to be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect the latest thinking and measurement techniques. Click here to read more about this
Further to below, you may be interested in the National Audit Office report published yesterday on metrics. They make some observations on the Defra approach.
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