Corporate report

Environment Agency corporate scorecard quarter three 2018 to 2019

Published 27 June 2019

The Environment Agency corporate scorecard shows a high level overview of our performance against our environmental and business aims.

The scorecard is reported every 3 months to executive directors and the board within the Environment Agency. Our Corporate Scorecard enables us to monitor how well we are achieving our stated aims as set out in the Environment Agency Action plan. It is also shared with the Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra), and is published here. Our corporate scorecard measures also contribute towards the wider Defra single departmental plan.

1. Corporate scorecard summary page

We use a red amber green system to see at a glance how we are performing. Green means we are performing at or above the target(s) set, amber means we are falling slightly short of the target and red means there is improvements to be made.

This table shows the red, amber green scores for the 12 measures plus the actual and target figures.

1.1 Protecting and improving the environment

Measure title	Units	Q3 Year to date actual	Q3 Year to date target	Year end target	Q3 year to date status	Forecast
The water environment is healthier (Defra)	Kilometres	1,426	1,602	2,000	Amber	Amber
We protect people, the environment and wildlife by reducing serious pollution incidents (Defra)	Number of incidents in the last 12 months	514	400	400	Red	Red
We create new habitats (Defra)	Hectares created	Reports in Q4	Reports in Q4	410 Hectares	Reports in Q4	Amber
We reduce the number of high risk illegal waste sites (Defra)	Number of high waste sites	233	219	196	Amber	Red
We reduce the risk of flooding for more households (Defra)	Number of households better protected	155,385	150,000	185,000	Green	Green
We maintain our flood and costal risk management assets at or above the target condition (Defra)	% of high risk assets at target condition	96.8%	97.5%	97.5%	Amber	Green
We have a first class incident response capability - number of staff trained and ready to respond to incidents (Defra)	Number of people	6,698	6,500	6,500	Green	Green
We successfully influence planning decisions by local authorities	% decision notices successfully influenced	96.8%	97.0%	97.0%	Amber	Green

1.2 Outstanding organisation

Measure title	Units	Q3 Year to date actual	Q3 Year to date target	Year end target	Q3 year to date status	Forecast
We manage our money efficiently	% spend on budget	99%	100%	100%	Green	Green
We reduce our carbon footprint	Tonnes of carbon dioxide	19,346	21,333	32,000	Green	Green
We have a diverse workforce: a) The proportion of our staff are from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME)	% of workforce	4.0%	14%	14%	Red	Red
We have a diverse workforce: b) The proportion of our executive managers who are female	% of executive manager workforce	34%	50%	50%	Red	Red
We provide a safe place to work	LTI frequency rate per 100,000 hours	0.13	0.11	0.11	Red	Amber

Key: (DEFRA) this measure is reported to Defra on the Defra scorecard

2. The water environment is healthier

Q3 Status	Q3 actual (km)	Q3 target	Year end forecast	Year end target (km)
Amber	1,426	1,602	Amber	2,000

We have worked with partners to enhance the water environment by another 227km. This takes the total so far this financial year to 1,426km against an ambitious target of 2,000km. That’s 4,695km enhanced.

Recent enhancements have come from Environment Agency regulatory work: tackling point and diffuse sources of pollution, by driving improvements to infrastructure and treatment facilities serving both farms and urban communities. Of particular note, is 44km of enhancement of the water quality in the River Thame following improvements at a large sewage treatment works. In the North East, our partners have completed a large mine waters project which has enhanced 37km over four water bodies. An extensive moorland restoration project in the North West has resulted in improved downstream water quality for Salmon.

The impact of prolonged dry weather incidents is still being felt, especially in Yorkshire and has meant that improvement work has been slowed and improvements that have been delivered have not been captured. Yorkshire like other areas are now in recovery and are starting to return to the back log of normal work. It is now unlikely that the target of 2000km will be met. The majority of this will be a direct result of the incident and setting a very ambitious target.

Brexit preparation work could have some impact on this measure if key resources are diverted away from delivering project delivery actions in quarter four and this could also compromise end of year reporting.

Kilometres of rivers, lakes and coastal waters enhanced this year

Quarter	Actual km	Target km
2016/17	1,231	717
2017/18	2,038	1,500
Q1 2018/19	1,044	1,014
Q2 2018/19	1,213	1,345
Q3 2018/19	1,426	1,602

Cumulative KM enhanced since April 2016

Quarter	Actual km	Target km
Q1 2017/18	2,127	1,814
Q2 2017/18	2,202	2,190
Q3 2017/18	2,387	2,387
Q4 2017/18	3,269	2,731
Q1 2018/19	4,314	3,745
Q2 2018/19	4,483	4,076
Q3 2018/19	4,696	4,333

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
Area leads to chase actions delivered but not reported due to PDW	Area reporting leads	31/03/2019
Reprioritisation of work programmes to support delivery of outcomes where feasible	Area Leadership Teams	31/03/2019

3. We protect people, the environment and wildlife by reducing serious pollution incidents

Q3 Status	Q3 actual (+10%)	Ceiling target	forecast	Year end target
Red	514 (565)	400	Red	400

Performance - no. of category 1 and 2 pollution incidents

Quarter	Cat 1	Cat 2	+10%	Q Total actual cat 1 and 2 shown	Target
2011/12 Q4	47	552	N/A	599	560
2012/13 Q4	46	485	N/A	531	532
2013/14 Q4	60	636	N/A	696	436
2014/15 Q4	56	546	N/A	602	631
2015/16 Q4	66	441	N/A	507	631
2016/17 Q4	54	441	N/A	495	553
2017/18 Q1	50	431	N/A	481	496
2017/18 Q2	43	372	N/A	415	496
2017/18 Q3	44	375	N/A	419	496
2017/18 Q4	54	378	N/A	432	496
2018/19 Q1	59	385	N/A	444	400
2018/19 Q2	82	452	N/A	534	400
2018/19 Q3	78	436	51	514	400

After seeing a significant rise in pollution incidents in 2013 we have targeted the sectors showing the poorest performance. For each sector we developed Pollution Incident Reduction Plans which we are now delivering. These are showing good results, but we will remain vigilant because incidents can be weather-related and will continue to show some seasonal variations

The data shown here is using initial quarterly data which is subject to change. The results for the most recent quarters are likely to increase in future reports due to the inherent lag time in investigating and recording all the necessary incident details onto the reporting system.

Illegal Waste main contributors

Quarter	Illegal waste site	Burning of waste	Unauthorised waste management activity	Fly-tipping
2018 Jan - Mar	10	1	3	3
2018 Apr - Jun	12	4	3	1
2018 Jul - Sep	7	3	3	5
2018 Oct - Dec	7	4	0	2

Category 1 and 2 incidents from illegal waste management

Quarter	Total
2014 Jan - Mar	19
2014 Apr - Jun	16
2014 Jul - Sep	16
2014 Oct - Dec	17
2015 Jan - Mar	17
2015 Apr - Jun	21
2015 Jul - Sep	13
2015 Oct - Dec	14
2016 Jan - Mar	14
2016 Apr - Jun	26
2016 Jul - Sep	30
2016 Oct - Dec	22
2017 Jan - Mar	22
2017 Apr - Jun	11
2017 Jul - Sep	8
2017 Oct - Dec	10
2018 Jan - Mar	16
2018 Apr - Jun	20
2018 Jul - Sep	14
2018 Oct - Dec	13

Water Company Main Contributors

Quarter	Water distribution system	Sewage treatment works	Foul sewer	Rising Main	Pumping station
2018 Jan - Mar	1	2	0	2	0
2018 Apr - Jun	1	5	7	0	2
2018 Jul - Sep	3	10	6	2	4
2018 Oct - Dec	4	1	2	5	1

Category 1 and 2 incidents from the water company sector

Quarter	Total
2014 Jan - Mar	13
2014 Apr - Jun	26
2014 Jul - Sep	21
2014 Oct - Dec	9
2015 Jan - Mar	11
2015 Apr - Jun	20
2015 Jul - Sep	26
2015 Oct - Dec	11
2016 Jan - Mar	9
2016 Apr - Jun	13
2016 Jul - Sep	30
2016 Oct - Dec	14
2017 Jan - Mar	5
2017 Apr - Jun	20
2017 Jul - Sep	15
2017 Oct - Dec	17
2018 Jan - Mar	6
2018 Apr - Jun	16
2018 Jul - Sep	30
2018 Oct - Dec	17

Agriculture main contributors

Quarter	Dairy and livestock	Intensive farming	Arable and horticulture	Other / unspecified agriculture
2018 Jan - Mar	14	7	3	2
2018 Apr - Jun	14	7	2	0
2018 Jul - Sep	7	6	2	1
2017 Oct - Dec	6	5	1	0

Category 1 and 2 incidents from agriculture

Quarter	Total
2014 Apr - Jun	21
2014 Jul - Sep	15
2014 Oct - Dec	35
2015 Jan - Mar	21
2015 Apr - Jun	21
2015 Jul - Sep	27
2015 Oct - Dec	17
2016 Jan - Mar	33
2016 Apr - Jun	13
2016 Jul - Sep	16
2016 Oct - Dec	8
2017 Jan - Mar	19
2017 Apr - Jun	9
2017 Jul - Sep	15
2017 Oct - Dec	25
2018 Jan - Mar	26
2018 Apr - Jun	23
2018 Jul - Sep	16
2018 Oct - Dec	12

Non regulated industry sectors main contributors

Quarter	Natural source	Domestic & residential	Service sector	Manufacturing	Transport	Retail sector
2018 Jan - Mar	2	6	7	2	5	3
2018 Apr - Jun	9	5	3	2	2	1
2018 Jul - Sep	54	4	1	2	3	1
2018 Oct - Dec	3	7	0	1	2	3

Category 1 and 2 incidents from non regulated industry sectors

Quarter	Total
2014 Jan - Mar	26
2014 Apr - Jun	28
2014 Jul - Sep	45
2014 Oct - Dec	21
2015 Jan - Mar	21
2015 Apr - Jun	28
2015 Jul - Sep	39
2015 Oct - Dec	19
2016 Jan - Mar	19
2016 Apr - Jun	25
2016 Jul - Sep	30
2016 Oct - Dec	19
2017 Jan - Mar	21
2017 Apr - Jun	26
2017 Jul - Sep	23
2017 Oct - Dec	13
2018 Jan - Mar	25
2018 Apr - Jun	23
2018 Jul - Sep	66
2018 Oct - Dec	17

Which sectors make up the most number of category 1 and 2 pollution incidents over the last 12 months

Sector	Number of incidents	Cumulative %
Agriculture	77	62%
Other non regulated industry sectors	131	25%
Other regulated industry sectors	110	47%
Not identified	59	100%
Water company	69	15%
Illegal waste management	68	89%

Commentary

1. 80 incidents were recorded for quarter three 2018/19, which is in line with the incident numbers for quarter three 2017/18. Incidents across all sectors showed the usual trend of decreasing from quarter two to quarter three. Incidents from Other Non Regulated sectors significantly reduced in quarter three (from 66 in quarter two to 17 in quarter three), largely due to a significant reduction in incidents from Natural Sources (54 in quarter two to three in quarter three). Agriculture sector incidents continue declining from their recent peak in quarter one. Both trends are, in part, linked to the prolonged hot weather experienced in quarter two.

2. For the last 12 months to quarter three 2018/19, a total of 514 incidents were recorded (which may rise by up to 10% when all investigations are completed). We exceeded our ambitious ceiling target of 400 incidents in quarter two, in part attributable to prolonged dry weather and extreme summer temperatures. However, we would have exceeded the target despite the obvious spike in incidents from Natural Sources.

3. Compared to the position in quarter three 2017/18, incidents for the last 12 months have increased by 30%, from 394 to 514 incidents. All priority sectors increased, particularly in Other Non Regulated (72% increase - largely domestic & residential, service sector) and Illegal Waste (42% increase), with more minor increases for Agriculture (35%), Other Regulated (29%), and Water Companies (8%). Whilst weather can account for a proportion of this increase across the sectors, the data is inconclusive and other factors may play a part.

Illegal Waste Management: There were 13 incidents in quarter three, all were category two, this is the lowest per quarter incidents for 2018. The incidents comprised of seven illegal waste sites, four burning of waste and two fly tipping (illegal dumping). Over half the incidents occurred within East Anglian region but otherwise there is no discernible pattern of incident or waste type involved. Of the incidents six offenders were given formal warnings, one case put forward for prosecution, one notice served and the remainder are either still under investigation or the offenders have yet to be identified. We continue to tackle waste crime as a corporate priority and have had significant additional Government funding to explore new opportunities to prevent and disrupt waste crime.

Water Company:
Incidents in quarter three show a seasonal decrease from quarter two (from 30 in quarter two to 17 in quarter three). The overall trend is constant with typical seasonal variations each year, and annual totals showing a broadly constant level for five years. Incidents in quarter three 2018/19 were caused by both clean water operations (seven) and waste water assets (10). Of the 10 waste water incidents, there were one each from sewage pumping stations, sewage treatment works and combined sewer outfalls, with two from foul sewers and five from rising main sewers. We are concerned that we have not seen the reduction in numbers that we want to see over the longer term. In December 2018 the RI Board supported our recommendation to set up a project team drawn from E&B and Operations to review and overhaul how we regulate to improve water company performance. This will include: improving how we inspect and audit water companies, working with other regulators to add more leverage, exploring the possibility of securing greater financial penalties for companies who fail to meet environmental targets, and incentivising good performance. Following Board approval, the project will be ready for implementation in 2019/20.

Agriculture: This quarter sees another reduction in agriculture incidents.This reduction was expected due to the dry weather as farmers were able to spread slurry during the dry conditions and start the winter with empty slurry stores. Odour issues from intensive pig and poultry sites overtook dairy as the main polluter (five incidents). We have formal action plans or are taking enforcement action with these operators but there are serious and ongoing problems which will not be overcome quickly. Dairy has caused four of the other incidents. Silage liquors from stores account for two of these, one is a split slurry store and one is spreading in poor weather conditions. The other incident is from washing of root vegetables prior to Anaerobic Digestion. The Farming Rules for Water mean a change from an advisory to regulatory approach from April 2019 which will help address inappropriate spreading.

Other Non-Regulated sectors: There is a seasonal decrease from last quarter, with 17 incidents recorded. The primary contributors by premises source type were Domestic and Residential (seven), Natural Source (three) and Retail (three). Of the seven incidents attributed to Domestic and Residential, five were sewage pollutions and three were oil pollutions. These figures represent a peak when compared with annual trends. The increase in sewage pollutions from Domestic and Residential source in 2018 is double that of previous years totals (since 2010). Oil pollution from Domestic and Residential source in 2018 is higher than it has been since 2013 and is being monitored as part of the sector plan.

Other Regulated sectors and Not Identified: Other regulated industry sectors have seen a quarterly reduction from 42 incidents to 13 in quarter three. This is comparable with quarter three 2017/18 incident figures. There were 8 incidents where no pollution source was identified. We continue to make progress on assigning Not Identified incidents to sectors.

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
Detailed analysis of IWS data from National Incident Report System (NIRS) and Case Management System (CMS) to understand discrepancies in reported trends and further review of the use of sub-sector fields to improve clarity, consistency and value of this measure.	Enforcement & waste crime manager	31/03/2019
Produce intervention plan to reduce pollution incidents in the ‘other’ sector, where achievable by the EA (includes service sector, transport, natural causes, unidentified, food & drink, other regulated sectors).	Deputy Director Radioactive Substances and Industry Regulation	31/03/2019

4. We create new habitats

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Q3 target	Forecast	Year end target
Reports in Q4	Reports in Q4	Reports in Q4	Amber	410 Hectares (ha)

This measure reports in quarter four.

A number of projects have recently been brought forward to address a major (190 ha) shortfall in one project in the Humber area. This project is now not expected to deliver until 2020/21. The current expectation from areas is that the additional projects now delivering this year will help create around 400 ha of new priority habitat, with a reasonable chance of meeting this year’s target. Those other projects are still reliant on there being no delays in funding and continued land owner participation but the year end forecast has improved from red to amber.

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
Explore the possibility of bringing lower confidence projects forward	Area Fisheries, Biodiversity & Geomorphology teams	31/03/2019
Remind areas of the importance of updating the Future Habitats Creation	Measure Reporter	30/09/2018

5. We reduce the number of high risk illegal waste sites

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Ceiling target	Forecast	Year end target
Amber	233	219	Red	196

During quarter three the number of active high risk sites decreased from 260 to 233. We stopped 65 high risk sites during quarter three and recorded 24 new high risk sites. This is the first time that the total number of active high risk sites has fallen below the April 2017 baseline and is the lowest total since the beginning of 2012. The majority of the reduction in quarter three was seen in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire Area (GMMC) who reduced their total number by 24 sites. Five other areas recorded reductions in high risk site numbers in quarter three. Overall against their local targets four areas are green, three areas are amber and seven areas are red. Nationally we are amber against the quarter three target of 219 active high risk sites.

Tackling illegal waste activity remains a priority for us and our efforts to reduce the number of high risk illegal waste sites are not expected to be impacted by our role in planning for Brexit. Areas and the National Enforcement Service anticipate recruitment to the additional posts, funded by the £30m for waste crime, will be completed by April 2019. This injection of additional resource will not support delivery against 2018/19 targets and as a result we continue to forecast being red at the end of quarter four.

Tactically we continue to work on a systems review of waste crime to identify our most effective interventions and have referred over 40 illegal waste sites to HMRC as part of enforcing the expanded scope of landfill tax. Strategically we are now working on implementing the output of Defra’s Resources and Waste Strategy and the Secretary of State’s report into Serious and Organised Waste Crime.

Number of high risk illegal waste sites in England

Quarter	Total	Ceiling target
Baseline	380	380
Q4 16/17	253	242
Q4 17/18	259	223
Q1 18/19	255	254
Q2 18/09	260	240
Q3 18/09	233	219

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
Complete Phase I of waste crime systems review to better understand effectiveness of interventions. Report now due late Feb/early March.	Deputy Director for Waste Regulation	31/12/2018
Develop basket of waste crime measures for 2019/20 Integrated Service Levels and Defra Resources and Waste Strategy.	Deputy Director for Waste Regulation	31/12/2018
Workshop to map the implementation of the Resources and Waste Strategy, Serious and Organised Waste Crime report and other waste crime initiatives.	Deputy Directors for Waste Regulation and NES	25/01/2019

6. We reduce the risk from flooding to more households

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	2018/19 Q3 Cumulative target	Forecast	Year end target
Green	155,385	150,000	Green	185,000

41 separate projects have better protected 9,111 homes in quarter three of 2018/19 bringing the cumulative total since April 2015 to 155,385. The largest single scheme delivering during quarter three better protected 2,514 homes around Stainforth in South Yorkshire.

We are currently forecasting to exceed the target of 185,000 by the end of quarter four.

The programme remains on track to better protect 300,000 homes by the end of March 2021.

Houses protected

2018/19 programme cumulative target = (185,000)

Quarter	Total
Q1 2017/18	99,651
Q2 2017/18	101,214
Q3 2017/18	107,834
Q4 2017/18	142,850
Q1 2018/19	144,210
Q2 2018/19	146,274
Q3 2018/19	155,385

7. We maintain our flood and coastal risk management assets at or above the target condition

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Q2 target	Forecast	Year end target
Amber	96.8%	97.5%	Green	97.5%

Asset condition has dropped slightly in quarter three. We forecast to meet the end of year target but the risk of not meeting the target has significantly increased. The asset inspection and repair programme has been partially delayed as a consequence of summer drought and fire incidents. This has meant a larger programme of work planned during quarter four and the risk that other priorities may impact on delivery. We are taking action to manage the risks.

Where assets are below the required condition this identifies that work is required, this does not mean that they have structurally failed or that performance in a flood is compromised. If the performance of an asset is reduced, we will take action to ensure that flood risk is effectively managed until the asset is fully repaired or replaced.

% of high consequence assets at or above the required target condition

Quarter	% Actual (Rounded)	% Target
2016/17	97.2%	97%
Q1 17/18	96.3%	97.1%
Q2 17/18	95.7%	97.2%
Q3 17/18	96.7%	97.3%
Q4 17/18	97.7%	97.5%
Q1 18/19	97.2%	97.5%
Q2 18/19	96.9%	97.5%
Q3 18/19	96.8%	N/A

No. of high consequence assets passing

At or above required target condition (EA)	Below required target condition (EA)
31442	1041

8. We have a first class incident response capability. Number of staff who are trained and ready to respond to incidents

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Q3 target	Forecast	Year end target
Green	6,698	6,500	Green	6,500

We estimate that we have 6,698 trained and capable incident staff ready to respond to incidents.

Overall this is reflecting that we have an additional 190 incident staff available for incident response. In quarter three we have removed the figures for the Defra Corporate Services staff who support our response. Ongoing recruitment to roles and training continues and has led to an increase of incident volunteers. A summer period of longer term incident response for prolonged dry weather provided opportunities for more people to get involved and understand how they can contribute.

Refinement of our reporting method also continues ensuring that we include both, our incident volunteers and those who provide critical incident response within the remit of their day job roles.

We continue to maintain a strong pool of just over 1,000 people in training who will contribute to our trained and ready workforce as they become capable and confident in their roles.

Number of staff who are trained and ready to respond to incidents

Quarter	Number
2016 Oct - Dec	6,577
2017 Jan - Mar	6,716
2017 Apr - Jun	6,267
2017 Jul - Sep	6,431
2017 Oct - Dec	6,626
2018 Jan - Mar	6,568
2018 Apr - Jun	6,568
2018 Jul - Sep	6,507
2018 Oct - Dec	6,698

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
We will continue to reflect the contribution of people who do not have an incident role but play a critical role in our incident response through their day job.	Deputy Director Incident Management & Resilience	31/03/2019
Ensure all incident staff continue to manage their own professional capability through the Incident Management Academy. This will also enable us to accurately capture information for this measure.	Deputy Director Incident Management & Resilience	31/03/2019
Continue to support a culture that gives the ability to balance our incident and day job roles by promoting personal resilience, and stop, slow, reset initiatives.	Deputy Director Corporate Incident Management	31/03/2019
We will ensure any impacts on incident staff resilience from Brexit negotiations are managed effectively through Stop slow reset planning arrangements and continued support for our people. Whilst we may see an impact on training of new staff, we expect the overall numbers to be maintained as incident response is prioritised.	Deputy Director Corporate Incident Management	31/03/2019

9. Our inputs to planning consultations are influential

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Q3 target	Forecast	Year end target
Amber	96.8%	97%	Green	97%

Overall performance has slipped to 96.8% against a target of 97%. In six cases we objected to applications as no flood risk assessment (FRA) had been undertaken for sites located in a flood plain. In all of these instances the Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) granted planning permission not in accordance with our advice or that contained within government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which requires an assessment of flood risk to be undertaken before determining a planning application. If our advice and that of government had been followed then overall performance would have been 97% and green for quarter three.

We will be asking the relevant Area Sustainable Places (SP) teams to explore the reasons why government planning policy and our advice does not appear to have been followed by local planning authorities in some cases and consider what they can do to address this. National Office Sustainable Places are also going to review Development Planning System (DPS) data to see whether there are any particular trends developing where LPAs are determining planning permissions not in accordance with the flood policies in the NPPF. If we find such trends we will raise these with Defra and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to explore what further interventions might be necessary.

% decision notices where Local Planning Authorities have accepted our representations

Quarter	Total
2016/17	97.4%
2017/18	96.7%
Q1 2018/19	96.5%
Q2 2018/19	97.1%
Q3 2018/19	96.8%

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
National Office Sustainable Places will work with Area Sustainable Places teams to ensure a streamlined and efficient collection of decision notices and the reasoning behind them e.g. developing the current Lincs & Northants Area process nationally.	E&B Manager, Sustainable Places	Ongoing

10. We manage our money effectively to deliver our outcomes

Q3 Status	Q3 actual (£m)	Q3 target (£m)	Forecast	Year end target
Green	£857 m	£865 m	Green	100%

The measure is used to report on effective management of our money to achieve our outcomes, and is based on the percentage of our full year budget that we have invested. The Environment Agency has a major capital and revenue programme of investment projects and conducts a very detailed planning process in order to ensure appropriate prioritisation of these investments. We are subject to a series of strong financial and governance controls that both protect this investment and provide a logistical challenge in delivering the programme of expenditure. This is considered an appropriate measure, with expenditure being a proxy for delivery of environmental outcomes and this measure is therefore inextricably linked to most of the other scorecard measures.

The Environment Agency has invested 69% of full year budget in the first three quarters of 2018/19, which is very close to the expected budget profile and ahead of the proportion invested to the same point last year (68%), when the same full year target was achieved. The prolonged dry weather has allowed our programmes to proceed smoothly.

Following a robust review of forecasts in the mid year review presented to Executive Directors, actions to address the risks and issues have been implemented during quarter three. Some over-programming remains to be managed, and forecasts and spend will continue to be monitored closely by budget managers and Executive Directors, supported by Finance, to ensure we invest all available funding.

Cumulative expenditure against YTD budget (%)

Quarter	Total
Q1 17/18	104%
Q2 17/18	90%
Q3 17/18	93%
Q4 17/18	100%
Q1 18/19	97%
Q2 18/19	99%
Q3 18/19	99%

Cumulative expenditure against YTD budget (£m)

Quarter	Planned profiled cumulative expenditure (£m)	Actual cumulative expenditure (£m)
Q2 17/18	£566	£510
Q3 17/18	£854	£795
Q4 17/18	£1,173	£1,170
Q1 18/19	£272	£264
Q2 18/19	£566	£558
Q3 18/19	£865	£857

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
Highlight risks and issues affecting ability to deliver within available funding to Executive Directors and Defra and support the organisation to make best use of available funding.	Director of Finance	31/03/2019

11. We reduce our carbon footprint

Quarter 3 year to date carbon dioxide emissions (tonnes)

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Ceiling target	Year end target	Year end forecast
Green	19,346	21,333	32,000	Green

11.2 Quarter 2 year to date carbon dioxide emissions by type (tonnes)

Type	Status	Actual	Target
Total	Green	19,346	21,333
Operational fuel	Green	2,147	2,434
Travel	Green	6,103	6,180
Buildings (inc labs)	Green	2,932	4,319
Pumping	Green	8,163	8,400

Carbon Dioxide emissions are 9% under target (19,346 tonnes) and 836 tonnes lower than last year’s quarter three results (a 4% reduction).

A large proportion of carbon comes from our pumping operations, particularly the Ely-Ouse Transfer System to recharge Essex & Suffolk drinking water reservoirs. Electricity consumption and carbon from the scheme have increased compared to the same period last year (463 additional tonnes of carbon). Prolonged dry weather had initially reduced pumping earlier in the year due to lower river flow levels but quarter three has seen an increase in pumping with wetter weather. The system is expected to further increase its pumping throughout quarter four.

The reduction in building related carbon of 19% is a combination of the greening of the UK electricity grid, more shared sites with Defra and a number of office closures.

Transport carbon has seen a reduction of 9% (603 tonnes) compared to last year’s quarter three total. Increases in video conferencing (extra 800 hours) and Webex (extra 10,000 hours) have made contributions to this. The focus on our T&S challenge has also helped. The biggest contributor to our travel reduction has been corporate services transfer with 2.3 million miles undertaken by staff that moved to Defra in the previous year. However, we are still seeing a reduction of 700,000 miles from EA staff.

Our National Laboratory Services has seen a reduction of 22% (167 tonnes) in its carbon due to the gradual closure of our Nottingham site. Work from Nottingham has been moving to our Exeter site and we are expecting to gain efficiencies from this with reduced energy use.

Carbon from operational fuel is still higher than quarter three last year, by 381 tonnes due to large fuel purchases earlier in the year.

0.4 million kWh have been produced by our renewable assets between April - September 2018 which is 2% of our electricity usage for the same period.

Tonnes of carbon dioxide produced

2020 target is 32,501 tonnes

Quarter	Total
2014/15	35,635
2015/16	38,460
2016/17	34,470
2017/18	32,450
Q1 18/19	5,333
Q2 18/19	13,333
Q3 18/19	21,333

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
Work with Defra Energy team and Environment Agency Asset Owners to maximise the potential carbon and financial savings offered by Power Purchase Agreements for renewable energy, particularly at our pumping stations.	Head of Sustainable Business	29/03/19
Managers to continue their focus on Travel and Subsistence and the application of the travel hierarchy to support continued reduction in travel emissions.	Executive Directors, Directors and Deputy Directors	Ongoing
Utilise software that monitors our vehicle charging to understand the utilisation of our charge points and to inform where further charge points are required.	Deputy Director of Fleet	29/03/19

12. We have a diverse workforce

The proportion of our staff who are from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background (BAME %)

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Target	Forecast	Year end target
Red	4.0%	14%	Red	14%

There were eight new BAME recruits this quarter out of a total of 177 new starters, which represents 4.5% of all external recruits, slightly below the mean value of 5.9% for the whole period beginning quarter one 2016/17. This contributed to a net increase in headcount from 407 in quarter two 2018/19 to 412, maintaining the proportion of BAME employees in the Environment Agency at 4.0%; the 2016/20 target remains however at 14%.
A suite of initiatives are being used to move us towards our aspirations for the short and long term. These include promoting more community / university focused outreach work, unconscious bias training for recruiting managers, development programmes and mentoring for BAME staff, reviews of exit interviews, an EDT ‘Race Action Plan’, a refreshed resourcing strategy with all vacancies now placed on the VERCIDA online portal, blind sifting of CVs in recruitment, the “increase the pace on race” events, a more engaged BAME network and more active communication on our ethnic diversity.

BAME staff as % of all staff

2020 target = 14%

Quarter	Total
Q1 2016/17	3.6%
Q2 2016/17	3.7%
Q3 2016/17	3.7%
Q4 2016/17	3.8%
Q1 2017/18	4.0%
Q2 2017/18	4.0%
Q3 2017/18	3.8%
Q4 2017/18	3.8%
Q1 2018/19	3.9%
Q2 2018/19	4.0%
Q3 2018/19	4.0%

The proportion of our executive managers who are female %

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Target	Forecast	Year end target
Red	34%	50%	Red	50%

The percentage of female Executive Managers (EMs) is 34.1% (30), which is similar to the previous quarter four 2017/18 (34.5%), the headcount reducing by one to 30. This compares to a target of 50%. The equivalent figure for the UK Civil Service is 43.4%, which has increased from 38.7% in 2016. The percentage of female Grade 7 employees has decreased slightly to 33% (155), compared with a target of 50%; the latest equivalent figure for the Civil service is 44% (Civil Service Grade 6).

Proportion of Executive Managers (EMs) who are female

2020 target = 50%

Quarter	Total
Q2 2016/17	36%
Q3 2016/17	34%
Q4 2016/17	37%
Q1 2017/18	38%
Q2 2017/18	37%
Q3 2017/18	35%
Q4 2017/18	34%
Q1 2018/19	34%
Q2 2018/19	34%
Q3 2018/19	34%

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
Unconscious bias training for interview	Exec. Director FCRM	Ongoing
Development programmes and coaching for BAME staff	Legal Services	Ongoing
Development programmes and coaching for female staff	Legal Services	Ongoing
Active support for Brunel and associated engagement initiatives	All Executive Directors	Ongoing

13. We provide a safe place to work: lost time incident (LTI) frequency rate

Q3 Status	Q3 actual	Ceiling rate	Forecast	Year end target
Red	0.13	0.11	Amber	0.11

Lost Time Incident Frequency Rate (LTIFR) is a universally accepted lagging indicator of health and safety performance. We adopt a conservative definition of lost time injury so that we capture any injuries resulting in a day or more lost time. By using such a conservative definition, plus a very low ceiling of 0.11 injuries per 100,000 hours worked, this creates a very challenging aspiration for our overall Health Safety and Wellbeing (HSW) performance. The fact that we are usually close to this ceiling indicates that all the steps we have been undertaking to manage and further improve our HSW are delivering results in terms of reduced numbers of injuries to our people. That has certainly been borne out in quarter three, as our rate as significantly improved to 0.13. These HSW improvements most recently include in areas of our work such as Field Operations (refining the training, planning and managing of construction work); lone working; manual handling training; and emphasis on active monitoring, amongst many other things. We also continue to improve our processes for learning from LTIs and Safety Critical Incidents (SCIs), including a recent training programme for lead reviewers.

Lost time incident frequency rate

12 month rolling average

Quarter	Number
January 2018	0.15
February 2018	0.16
March 2018	0.16
April 2018	0.16
May 2018	0.17
June 2018	0.17
July 2018	0.18
August	0.17
September	0.16
October	0.16
November	0.13
December	0.13

Number of LTIs

Quarter	Number
Q2 2015/16	8
Q3 2015/16	4
Q4 2015/16	12
Q1 2016/17	4
Q2 2016/17	6
Q3 2016/17	5
Q4 2016/17	4
Q1 2017/18	7
Q2 2017/18	6
Q3 2017/18	13
Q4 2017/18	6
Q1 2018/19	6
Q2 2018/19	5
Q3 2018/19	5

Actions

Action(s)	Owner(s)	Deadline(s)
Implement the Health, Safety and Wellbeing plan for 2018/19	Executive Director of Operations	Q4 18/19