Defra invites feedback on new sustainable development indicators
Defra is running an on-line questionnaire on sustainable development Indicators. Feedback is invited from 1 to 19 September 2011, as part of the Government's review to ‘streamline' the existing 68 sustainable sevelopment Indicators.
With cross-government responsibility for sustainable development, Defra has reported on sustainable development indicators since 1992. They seek to build on this experience, drawing on the set published annually since 2005, and taking account of new priorities, new visions and other national and international initiatives.
The new indicators will give government ministers and officials an overview of the priorities for sustainable development, and provide the Environmental Audit Committee, stakeholders and the public with a means of evaluating progress.
They are selecting new indicators that are:
- Clear, easily understood and relevant to policy makers, Parliament and the public. The headline indicators also need to be limited in number; reflecting our desire for a streamlined scorecard to give an accessible overview of progress.
- Meaningful for charting progress on sustainable development and good predictors of the long term state of our economy, environment and society. Specifically the indicators need to address climate change and the green economy; enhancement and protection of the natural environment; fairness, wellbeing and the big society.
- Based on existing data wherever possible, drawing on the current indicator set, but supplemented with new indicators where needed to reflect new thinking and priorities.
Streamlining the indicators
The previous sustainable development indicator set had 68 indicators, many of which included individually assessed component measures. Defra intends to streamline the indicators to be more manageable and accessible, requiring some difficult decisions about including or excluding potential indicators.
In particular, they are proposing to focus on the highest level indicator of each particular issue. For example on greenhouse gas emissions, the focus will be on total emissions and not emissions by sector, nor on renewable energy (since that will be reflected in total emissions), nor on road traffic levels (since some aspects of that will be also reflected in the total emissions).
Defra is proposing three tiers of indicators:
1. A headline set, which will form a scorecard and provide an overview of priorities for sustainable development;
2. Supplementary indicators which provide a broader picture and help avoid the risk of an issue being overlooked if not included in the headline set;
3. Periodic policy or thematic indicators, which will provide a more detailed examination of sustainable development issues in a particular area of policy.
Reporting indicators
The headline and supplementary indicators are expected to be reported on annually, but with the facility to provide more regular updates if required and feasible.
The previous indicators were assessed on the basis of progress since baselines and it is proposed that this should be the approach for the new set, with traffic lights showing whether recent changes are in the right or wrong direction compared with the baseline.
Stakeholder feedback
Defra are inviting stakeholders to:
- Suggest which indicators they consider most appropriate for highlighting and steering progress in longer-term sustainable development priorities;
- Suggest any refinements or alternative indicators;
- Let us know how they have used the existing indicators.
Initial comments and suggestions are requested by 19 September 2011. Defra will then refine its proposals prior to a formal public consultation in November.
How to provide your feedback
- Please complete the brief survey on the selection of priority indicators and use of the existing indicators (results so far are displayed on completion of the survey);
For further information visit the Defra website.
Published 9th September 2011
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