Corporate report

Environment Agency corporate scorecard 2023 to 2024 - quarter four

Updated 15 August 2024

Applies to England

The corporate scorecard 2023 to 2024 quarter 4 (Q4) starts 1 January 2024 and ends 31 March 2024. The year end is 31 March 2024.

1. We reduce the risk from flooding for more properties.

Q4 Status	Q4 Actual	Cumulative target	Year end target
Green	88,272	87,351	87,351

Commentary

During quarter 4 of 2023 to 2024, 16,709 properties were better protected from flooding and coastal erosion by 90 schemes including:

• Holderness Drain Flood Alleviation Scheme (Yorkshire Area): 870 properties
• Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area Flood Defence Project (Wessex Area): 853 properties
• River Tame, Bromford and Castle Vale Flood Risk Management Scheme (West Midlands Area): 696 properties

The total properties better protected for 2023 to 2024 was 28,971 against a target of 28,000. This takes the cumulative total since April 2021 to 88,272 properties, exceeding the target of 87,351.

Properties protected

2023 to 2024 programme cumulative target = 87,351

Number of properties protected each quarter

Quarter	Total
Q1 2021 to 2022	7,198
Q2 2021 to 2022	10,679
Q3 2021 to 2022	17,162
Q4 2021 to 2022	32,908
Q1 2022 to 2023	33,223
Q2 2022 to 2023	35,878
Q3 2022 to 2023	39,324
Q4 2022 to 2023	59,351
Q1 2023 to 2024	61,228
Q2 2023 to 2024	67,734
Q3 2023 to 2024	71,563
Q4 2023 to 2024	88,272

Actions	Owners	Deadlines
Managing construction inflationary cost pressures in line with central guidance provided.	All project executives and managers	31/03/2027

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

Q4 Status	% Q4 Actual	% Q4 Target	%Year end target
Red	92.6%	94.5%	Red	94.5%

Commentary

Environment Agency owned and maintained high consequence asset condition for quarter 4 is 92.6% at target condition. This isa reduction of 0.7% from 93.3% at the end of quarter 3. Asset condition has fallen the last 2 quarters as a direct result of successive storm damage at a greater rate than combined improvement from capital replacement and routine maintenance.

We have completed around 60,000 post storm (T98) asset inspections since November 2023 which has identified the scale of the damage. We have initiated a recovery programme to repair the highest priority assets along with contingency and winter readiness plans to reduce risk to communities where assets are below required condition in the short term.

We will use existing CDEL/RDEL funding to concentrate on repair of the most critical assets.

Where assets are below their required condition this identifies that work is required. This does not mean in every case, that assets have structurally failed or that performance in a flood is compromised. However, with more of our assets falling below their target condition than prior to the storms, there is an increased risk of asset failure and flood risk which will endure throughout 2024 and possibly beyond.

Percentage of our flood and coastal risk management assets at or above the target condition

Quarter	% Actual (rounded)	% Target
Q1 2019 to 2020	97.2%	97.5%
Q2 2019 to 2020	96.9%	97.5%
Q3 2019 to 2020	96.2%	98%
Q4 2019 to 2020	96.1%	98%
Q1 2020 to 2021	95.8%	98%
Q2 2020 to 2021	95.2%	98%
Q3 2020 to 2021	95%	98%
Q4 2020 to 2021	94.5%	98%
Q1 2021 to 2022	94.3%	98%
Q2 2021 to 2022	95.4%	98%
Q3 2021 to 2022	not reported	98%
Q4 2021 to 2022	91.8%	98%
Q1 2022 to 2023	91.8%	98%
Q2 2022 to 2023	93.9%	98%
Q3 2022 to 2023	94%	98%
Q4 2022 to 2023	94.5%	98%
Q1 2023 to 2024	93.8%	94.5%
Q2 2023 to 2024	93.5%	94.5%
Q3 2023 to 2024	93.3%	94.5%
Q4 2023 to 2024	92.6%	94.5%

Number of high consequence assets passing

At or above required target condition (Environment Agency)	Below required target condition (Environment Agency)
35,256	2,839

Actions	Owners	Deadlines
Repairing and maintaining flood defence assets remains a corporate priority.	Deputy Director Engineering and Technical Assurance	31/03/2025
Ensuring mitigation measures are in place for below required condition assets to manage risk pending repairs.	Deputy Director, Local Operations	31/03/2025
Reducing the backlog of asset repair assessments.	Deputy Director, Local Operations	31/03/2025

3. We deliver our climate impact plan and enabling UK net zero plan to tackle the climate emergency

Q4 Status	% Q4 Actual	% Q4 Target	% Year end target
Red	78%	96%	90%

Commentary

We continue with our operational commitments, every day helping communities, wildlife and businesses to be better prepared for the effects of climate change. In addition, we have set ourselves longer term actions to set us on the right path to meet the future challenges of climate change, and these actions are tracked via this measure.

For actions we set ourselves for 2023 to 2024, 75 out of 96 (78%) are on track or complete. The remainder being in year milestones are either deferred to 2024 to 2025 or realigned with organisational change. This breaks down into 53 out of 71 adaptation actions (75%) and 22 out of 25 net zero actions (88%) on track.

The 18 adaptation actions off track are evenly spread across the business:

• are developing slower than expected, but are forecast to be completed in quarter one 2024 to 2025
• 8 are off track due to reprioritisation
• 3 are delayed as they are tied to wider corporate change
• 17 of the actions now off track were recorded as on track in quarter 2/quarter 3 - so made progress this year but fell behind in quarter 4

Adaptation highlights include:

• the launch of an online digital tool for coastal practitioners and the public to make the world leading Shoreline Management Plans easier to access, understand and use

This is a vital step in helping policy makers and practitioners make well-informed decisions about the future management of our coastline and how we adapt to a changing climate.

There are 3 net zero actions that are off track due to either:

• requiring enabling legislation
• outstanding policy decisions
• prioritisation of limited technical resources

Two will dovetail with wider government timings and one is forecast to complete in quarter one 2024 to 2025.

Net Zero highlights include securing funding from the Department for Energy Security and net zero (DESNZ) for a Hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage programme enabling us to bolster capacity in early 2024. Guidance for blue and green hydrogen has been published along with updated guidance for Carbon Capture Utilisation Storage. Our Environment Agency methane action plan is due to be published in early April (a quarter 4 milestone). We have been announced as Scheme Administrator for the Clean Heat Market Mechanism - now planned to launch on 1st April 2025.

Percentage of actions completed or on track

Quarter	% Actual	% Target
Q2 2022 to 2023	84%	90%
Q3 2022 to 2023	93%	90%
Q4 2022 to 2023	93%	90%
Q2 2023 to 2024	79%	96%
Q3 2023 to 2024	91%	96%
Q4 2023 to 2024	78%	96%

4. We have a first class incident response capability

Q4 status	% Q4 Actual	% Q4 Target	%Year end target
Green	113%	96%	96%

Commentary

This report presents the utilisation of staff members engaged in key incident response activities over the past 6 months, as a proportion of the total number needed.

Severe weather in the past 6 months has resulted in a high number of incidents, requiring an elevated response. This has increased utilisation for this quarter’s reporting period, from 110% to 113% maintaining the green overall status.

As anticipated, there are variations in the data breakdown across different geographical areas and roles, with some areas returning an amber status.

The metric can exceed 100% as the measure is a comparison between the supply and demand of incident staff. During periods of severe weather, additional rostering may be required, resulting in a surge in response activity and a greater number of people responding to incidents. This raises the supply side of the measure. However, the demand is a snapshot figure of our incident staff requirements throughout the year, which is not adjusted during periods with high amounts of incidents. This subsequently creates a risk that the metric results can be misinterpreted as indicating increased resilience in our incident response when more people are responding.

To address this issue, a new metric approach will be adopted in 2024 to 2025. This will provide a more holistic view of our resilience by examining:

• the health of standby rotas - including any gaps
• the daily resilience of our incident cells when responding to active incidents

Proportion of trained staff utilised in principal incident roles

Quarter	Percentage
Q1 2022 to 2023	82%
Q2 2022 to 2023	79%
Q3 2022 to 2023	83%
Q4 2022 to 2023	86%
Q1 2023 to 2024	84%
Q2 2023 to 2024	86%
Q3 2023 to 2024	110%
Q4 2023 to 2024	113%

| Actions | Owners | Deadlines|
|——–|——–|

5. Air quality is improving

5.1 A reduction of 4 out of 4 pollutants on the previous year: (Sulphur oxides, SOx; nitrogen oxides, NOx; fine particulate matter, PM2.5 and non methane volatile organic compounds, NMVOCs)

Q4 status	Q4 Actual	Q4 Target	Year end target
Amber	3 out of 4 pollutants showing a reduction	4 out of 4 pollutants showing a reduction	4 out of 4 pollutants showing a reduction

Commentary

The air quality measure for 2023 to 2024 reports emissions of 4 key pollutants:

• sulphur oxides, (SOx)
• nitrogen oxides, (NOx)
• fine particulate matter, (PM2.5)
• non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs)

From 4 main industry sectors:

• refineries
• large volume organic chemicals (LVOCs)
• metals (NFM and ferrous)
• large combustion plant (LCP)

A fifth key pollutant, ammonia, is not included as its emissions from the selected sectors are relatively small.

The 4 sectors have recently undergone permit reviews, so we therefore expect improvements in emissions related to these. We plan to add more sectors to the corporate scorecard measures as more permit reviews are completed in 2023 to 2024.

Data for the air quality measure is reported yearly, based on annual returns from the industries being monitored. For 2023 to 2024 we report decreases in emissions for all but one of the pollutants (PM2.5). This is based on the Environment Agency pollution inventory returns collected to date (some have not yet been subject to validation and quality assurance),

Decreases are attributable to the closure in mid June 2023 of the coke ovens at a large steel manufacturing plant. This resulted reductions in emissions of NOx, SOx, and PM2.5.

The mild weather conditions during autumn and winter 2023 to 204 may have reduced energy demand. This resulted in the large combustion plant sector experiencing slight reductions in emissions. The increase in PM2.5 was noted for the metals and refineries sectors. It can be attributable, at least partly, to the recent introduction of PM2.5 reporting at 2 refineries. This new reporting does not necessarily equate to increased emissions. We are reviewing the emissions for the metals sector as quality assurance is completed. Overall, we currently report an amber rating, due to continued decreases in emissions for 3 out of 4 pollutants.

Actions	Owners	Deadlines
Validation and quality control of data submitted by sectors at the end of quarter 4.	Area Officers	End of Q1 2024 to 2025
Review of PM2.5 emissions data for individual sectors, and in particular 2022 to 2023 PM2.5 metals data, to clarify and address increasing trend	Monitoring & Assessment Team	End of Q1 24/25

6. Our rivers and coasts have better water quality and are better places for wildlife

Q4 status	Q4 Actual (km)	Q4 Target (km)	Year end target (km)
Green	2,520	2,130	2,130

Commentary

In the final quarter of the 2023 to 2024 reporting year, we recorded a further 1,302 km of enhancements. Most of these enhancements have come from the Countryside Stewardship Programme, where 1,257 km of enhancements were reported. Under the Countryside Stewardship programme, we have a clear understanding that farmers receiving an agreement or standalone grant have taken specific action to improve the water environment. This is through implementation of one or more Countryside Stewardship measures. Whilst the individual enhancements are often small, together they make a real difference to the local environment, reducing flood risk and reducing diffuse pollution.

In addition to the Countryside Stewardship programme, several individual projects and activities have made a great contribution to km enhanced. For example, a large scale river and floodplain restoration project in Colsterworth, Lincolnshire resulted in 1.3 km enhanced. The river was restored with floodplain connectivity, and the habitat was improved through floodplain lowering and the addition of gravel. This , benefited brown trout and white clawed crayfish which are priority species.

We also reported some activities that have prevented deterioration. One example is of action taken to protect 0.35 km of a bathing water in Solent and South Downs area. The water company addressed sewage spills from a manhole that was discharging directly into a nearby watercourse which flowed onto a beach. The water company carried out extensive CCTV surveys resulting in the subsequent removal of a large root mass reducing flows by 50%. Improvements were made to the maintenance schedule and a non return valve was fitted to the sewer line to prevent further spills from the site.

Including the quarter 4 figures we have managed to report 2,520 km enhanced this year. We have achieved 118% of our 2023 to 2024 target to enhance 2130 km across the year. We also achieved another 1079 km protected during quarter 4, bringing the total number of km protected for the year to 2270 km.

The end of the 2023 to 2024 reporting year marks the end of reporting of the km enhanced corporate scorecard measure. Since we began reporting we have reported 17,790 km enhanced and 4,660 km protected in our rivers, lakes, coastal and groundwaters.

Kilometres of rivers, lakes and coastal waters enhanced this year

Quarter	Actual km	Target km
Q1 2020 to 2021	31	100
Q2 2020 to 2021	4,193	1,509
Q3 2020 to 2021	4,230	3,445
Q4 2020 to 2021	4,551	3,900
Q1 2021 to 2022	822	883
Q2 2021 to 2022	1,245	1,272
Q3 2021 to 2022	1,347	1,650
Q4 2021 to 2022	1,528	1,650
Q1 2022 to 2023	1,475	1,300
Q2 2022 to 2023	1,548	1,548
Q3 2022 to 2023	1,602	1,984
Q4 2022 to 2023	2,300	2,058
Q1 2023 to 2024	809	1,380
Q2 2023 to 2024	966	1,472
Q3 2023 to 2024	1,218	2,035
Q4 2023 to 2024	2,520	2,130

Insight cumulative totals

Quarter	Actual km	Target km
Q2 2020 to 2021	10,967	8,000
Q3 2020 to 2021	11,004	8,000
Q4 2020 to 2021	11,292	8,000
Q1 2021 to 2022	12,167	8,000
Q2 2021 to 2022	12,590	8,000
Q3 2021 to 2022	12,799	8,000
Q4 2021 to 2022	12,980	8,000
Q1 2022 to 2023	14,445	9,300
Q2 2022 to 2023	14,518	9,300
Q3 2022 to 2023	14,572	9,300
Q4 2022 to 2023	15,271	10,058
Q1 2023 to 2024	16,079	12,188
Q2 2023 to 2024	16,087	15,597
Q3 2023 to 2024	16,338	16,160
Q4 2023 to 2024	18,858	16,255

| Actions | Owners | Deadlines|
|——–|——–|

7. We increase biodiversity and promote an environmental net gain by creating more and better habitats for the benefit of people and wildlife

Q4 status	Q4Actual	Q4 Target	Year end target
Green	1,912	1,350	1,350 hectares (ha)

Commentary

Despite the ambitious target set this year, innovation and hard work from area teams has created 385 ha of wildlife rich habitat and restored another 1,527 ha.

The majority of wildlife rich habitat types created/restored were blanket bog, coastal and floodplain grazing marsh, lowland mixed deciduous woodland, lowland meadow, intertidal mudflat.

The habitats created or restored will store 2,651 tCO2e per year, worth £14.0 million over 40 years at present value.

Area teams also carried out invasive non-native species control actions through 38 projects for:

• mink
• Himalayan balsam
• giant hogweed
• floating pennywort
• Japanese knotweed

A significant contribution (1,042 ha) to the final figures, was through the Yorkshire Peat Partnership blanket bog restoration. A project not visible in February 2023 when early predictions were made. This is just a small part of their larger area of work. This large restoration figure compensated for:

• relatively fewer large capital schemes
• delays to Environment Programme project budgets
• fewer fisheries, biodiversity and geomorphology staff resource
• increased costs of materials and services

Hectares of priority habitat created or restored

Year	Hectares created	Target
2020 to 2021	1,897	1,200
2021 to 2022	1,111	620
2022 to 2023	823	660
2023 to 2024	1,912	1,350

Actions	Owners	Deadlines
Environment & Business in Q1 2024 to 2025 will review the target and ambition, in partnership with FCRM and operational colleagues. To ascertain whether habitats restored and created is the best measure of the Environment Agency’s nature restoration work at corporate scorecard level.	Deputy Director, Fisheries and Nature	31/03/2024

8. We protect people and the environment through effective regulation

Q4 status	Q4 Actual	Q4 Target	Year end target
Green	13,597	13,982	97%

Commentary

We are committed to being a trusted and respected regulator. Measuring compliance with environmental permits provides an indication of our effectiveness as a regulator, and how well the environment and our communities are protected from pollution caused by regulated sites. A site is considered compliant if assessed within the top 3 compliance bands (A-C). This is in line with published Environment Agency guidance on assessing and scoring permit compliance.

Of the waste and installations permitted sites assessed in 2023, 97% were compliant. These sites include a range of sectors including:

• chemicals
• combustion
• metals
• biowaste
• intensive farming
• incineration

To enable compliance, we work in an open and transparent way with those we regulate so they understand what’s expected of them.

We are investing in:

• training
• digital systems and technology

This is so our staff have the tools they need, it’s easier for businesses to deal with us and for the public to find out about their environment.

Percentage of compliant regulated sites

Quarter	Actual	Target
Q4 2022 to 2023	97.6%	97%
Q4 2023 to 2024	97%	97%

Actions	Owners	Deadlines
Implement a range of continuous improvement initiatives for regulation to improve processes within the regulation cycle	Deputy Director of Resilience, Deputy Director of Regulatory Delivery (Operations)	31/03/2025

9. We reduce the number of serious environmental incidents from permitted sites and activities and sources we regulate directly

Q4 status	Q4 Actual	Q4 Target	Year end target
Green	150	150	Green	150

Commentary

This serious environmental incidents KPI sets a ceiling target for incidents from permitted sites and activities. The KPI concentrates on activities we regulate directly through permit and regulatory compliance. For broader context, incident numbers from unpermitted sources or where the source is unknown is also monitored. This provides a total number of serious incidents that we respond to on a rolling basis.

The number of serious environmental incidents from permitted sources is steady at between 125 and 160 incidents per year. We are working to reduce incident numbers, especially from permitted sites and activities. Action from our interventions can take time, so reductions in incident numbers may not be seen immediately. More detail from specific industries is provided below.

Metals recycling

Incident numbers remain stable. One incident was a fire, all others were noise from a limited number of sites, one of which was closed down last year. Noise is inherent to metal recycling activities. Development around existing sites and sensitisation at receptors often exacerbates the issue, which is what we have seen at the sites where most incidents were recorded.

Water companies

The number of serious pollution incidents remains high mainly due to the performance of 3 companies:

• Anglian Water
• Southern Water
• Thames Water

This performance means the sector can’t meet the requirements we set out in the WISER guidance and its commitment to trend to zero serious incidents. There were 47 serious incidents (verified data) at the end of calendar year 2023. Our increased compliance work and use of improved digital and data tools improves our understanding of risk and inevitably leads to further incidents being recorded.

Biowaste treatment

Two sites are causing the majority of incidents for this sector. We are carrying out compliance assessment activities at these sites including odour assessments and feeding back findings to the operator for them to take action.

There is a potential risk due to wet weather and tank stability, trade body operators have been alerted and the need to check tank integrity. We have revised permits where needed and are sharing lessons with trade bodies.

Landfill and deposit for recovery (DfR)

Odour is the primary reason for serious incidents in the sector. Historically, extended periods of very wet weather, which we have experienced this quarter, have led to increased odour issues at landfill sites. There were 8 incidents from Walleys Quarry landfill in the West Midlands. This is an ongoing incident we have been addressing through a significant increase in compliance activity and enforcement action, including serving a suspension notice.

Odour from landfills has always been a primary issue resulting in serious incidents in the sector. Improving:

• operations
• managing gas
• challenging misdescription of waste
• ensuring sites only accept the right waste

will help reduce further the number of incidents relating to odour.

Agriculture

There was one incident from a permitted agriculture site, which was a spill of slurry from a pig farm, this isn’t unusual for the time of year.

Other permitted

Includes all Environment Agency permitted sites not specifically highlighted, for example:

• service sector
• domestic and residential
• illegal waste management and more

Each sector individually has caused low incident numbers in recent years.

This KPI also tracks the incident numbers from unpermitted sources or where the source is unknown, to obtain a total number of serious incidents. The total number of serious incidents information is tracked in the report ‘review of activities regulated by the Environment Agency’.

Unpermitted incidents significantly outnumber those from a permitted source. In the 12 months to end March 2024 there were 589 (73%) incidents from an unpermitted or unknown source, a 6% decrease from last quarter, compared to 215 (27%) from permitted sites and activities.

Incidents from unpermitted sources affect the water environment significantly more than other media. The sources with the highest numbers of incidents are:

• agriculture
• illegal waste management activities
• water companies

Other unpermitted sources of incidents are:

• Service Sector (which includes construction and demolition, catering and accommodation and others)
• Domestic and Residential and natural sources, for example due to extreme weather or algal growth

The non-permitted agriculture figures are similar to previous years and are what we would expect for this time of year, especially given the wet weather. The majority of the incidents appear to stem from dairy farms and slurry storage or run off from fields. As a result of increased inspection numbers and increased regulation/action plans for farmers we expect this number to fall with subsequent investment in infrastructure. However, this will take time and continued effort/follow up inspections from officers.

Number of incidents against target

Quarter	Actual	Target
Q1 2023 to 2024	133	150
Q2 2023 to 2024	127	150
Q3 2023 to 2024	130	150
Q4 2023 to 2024	142	150

Actions	Owners	Deadlines
BAT requirements are being brought into sector guidance and are being shared with businesses. Or will be reviewed starting this year. New BAT standards mean prioritising reviews of industry permits. This will bring higher standards and can work to proactively manage a whole sector to reduce the risk of incidents happening.	Sector leads for metals recycling and food and drink	Depends on sector and when guidance is published, review starting this year
Water Industry Transformation Program: we have recruited more staff, provided additional training, improved data analysis, are using an intelligence led approach and increased asset inspections.	Water company sector lead	Multi-year programme
We required the water industry sector trade body (Water UK) National Pollutions Group and all member companies to report on the effectiveness of pollution incident reduction plan (PIRP) interventions during 2023 by March 2024. We will use this information to carry out a regulatory review, ahead of annual performance meetings in 2024. This is to provide an improved understanding of action being taken at a company and sector level, following increased scrutiny on pollution incident numbers. We’re currently reviewing the responses from the companies to assess the action being taken at a company and sector level.	Water company sector lead	Ongoing
Complete actions from the Environment Incident Management Review which aims to reduce incidents across sectors.
Incident Management and Resilience (IM&R) / Environment and Business, Business Board (E&B BB).	Multi-year programme
Landfill and DfR teams are working with the sector group prioritising proactive landfill regulation. This is to ensure sites operate in accordance with permit conditions and management plans to minimise uncontrolled emissions leading to odour. We have also prioritised ensuring waste is accepted at the right class of landfill or DfR site through targeted waste acceptance/misdescription audits. This is a joint approach with area hazardous waste leads to deal with the illegal disposal and misdescription of waste.	Environment and Business (E&B) Waste and Recovery teams	ongoing programme
We are examining data from incidents originating at unpermitted sites to see if there are trends and lessons we can concentrate on from work at permitted sites to reduce incident risk.
E&B, Environment Incident team	Multi-year programme

10. We successfully influence planning decisions by local planning authorities

Q4 status	% Q4 Actual	% Q4 Target	% Year end target
Green	97.4%	97%	Green	97%

Commentary

Performance in quarter 4 was 97%, which has ensured that the performance for the whole year is 97.4% and green. In this quarter there were 29 decisions recorded that weren’t in line with our advice:

• 22 where we had raised objection
• 7 where a condition we’d requested wasn’t included in the final decision

There were 3 objections made due to unacceptable risk to groundwater/water quality.

The remaining objections were made on flood risk grounds:

• 17 objections were made on the basis of no - or inadequate flood risk assessments, or the development proposed was incompatible with the flood zone
• 1 objection was due to concerns regarding culverting of a watercourse
• the final objection was made because the development would be too close to the riverbank, thereby preventing access for future maintenance or improvement of the watercourse

The conditions that weren’t included in the final decision related to land contamination/ groundwater protection and implementation of mitigation measures identified in flood risk assessments.

Most planning decisions are made in line with our advice. Where we do have to raise objection, we work hard with developers and the local planning authorities to try and resolve issues. Of the decisions recorded in quarter 4 there were 166 planning applications where we’d initially raised objections. By engaging with developers we managed to resolve our concerns, thereby facilitating the creation of 8,359 new residential units should all these planning permissions be implemented. These residential developments, if built, would help contribute over £1.4 billion to UK economic output. We are one of several consultees who provide planning advice, but this represents an excellent return on the Environment Agency’s £2.4 million quarterly spend on this vital work.

Percentage of decision notices where Local Planning Authorities have accepted our representations

Quarter	Total
Q4 2020 to 2021	97.8%
Q1 2021 to 2022	98%
Q2 2021 to 2022	98.6%
Q3 2021 to 2022	98.7%
Q4 2021 to 2022	98.2%
Q1 2022 to 2023	93.9%
Q2 2022 to 2023	95.4%
Q3 2022 to 2023	96.2%
Q4 2022 to 2023	96.5%
Q1 2023 to 2024	97%
Q2 2023 to 2024	97%
Q3 2023 to 2024	97%
Q4 2023 to 2024	97.4%

| Actions | Owners | Deadlines |
|——–|——–|

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

Q4 status	Q4 Actual	Q4 Target	Year end forecast	Year end target
Green	141	151	Green	151

Commentary

The number of high risk illegal waste sites at the end of quarter 4 is 141. This is 10 fewer than the ceiling target and we end 2023 to 2024 at green status.

The number of high risk sites stopped during the quarter was 22. In 2023 to 2024 we stopped 95 high risk sites. These have been identified as posing the greatest risk of harm to the environment and our communities.

Number of high risk illegal waste sites

Quarter	Total	Ceiling target
Baseline 19/20	233	233
Q1 2020 to 2021	250	233
Q2 2020 to 2021	237	227
Q3 2020 to 2021	218	222
Q4 2020 to 2021	206	216
Q1 2021 to 2022	201	216
Q2 2021 to 2022	208	211
Q3 2021 to 2022	201	205
Q4 2021 to 2022	194	200
Q1 2022 to 2023	188	195
Q2 2022 to 2023	180	190
Q3 2022 to 2023	190	185
Q4 2022 to 2023	175	180
Q1 2023 to 2024	167	164
Q2 2023 to 2024	167	161
Q3 2023 to 2024	134	154
Q4 2023 to 2024	141	151

| Actions | Owners | Deadlines|
|——–|——–|

12. A net zero organisation by 2030 (total carbon)

Q4 status	Q4 Actual (tonnes)	Ceiling target (tonnes)	Year end target (tonnes)
Green	269,339	282,916	Green	282,916

Commentary

At year end 2023 to 2024 our reported figures show that the Environment Agency is within its carbon target, at 95% of the annual target. Note: The year end budget target of 282,916 shown within this report is an amended figure from the original 2023 to 2024 target of 295,820 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. This change was approved by executive directors team (EDT) in quarter 3. This is the result of significant, planned, re-baselining of our Fleet and IT category emissions data, this financial year. The year end out turn remains green, and this change is immaterial to the red, amber and green (RAG) status.

Performance is heavily influenced by the construction category, which remains the most significant percentage of our carbon budget and is under target in 2023 2024. The issues reported in quarter 3 regarding the quality and completeness of our construction carbon data remains a challenge at year end. However, a major project, to replace modelled data with real data, will significantly improve data accuracy in 2024 to 2025.

The cars, computers, other direct and oOther iIndirect categories are all over target at year end. The main reason for this is the changes which have been made this year to the way in which the Environment Agency calculates our supply chain emissions. In 2023 to 2024, we worked with the Defra’s Sustainability team and the Carbon Trust, to align our reporting methods and start to reference UK specific market figures. This change has improved data accuracy and resulted in an uplift in reported emissions. We will realign our baseline to this new methodology during our annual rebase lining exercise in 2024 to 2025.

Our comprehensive organisational net zero roadmap is showing that only 19% of 92 planned actions are on track to report a green status at year end. On assuring this data in quarter 4, it has become became apparent that 58% of action owners have not reported on the status of their actions in quarter 3 or quarter 4. Discussion is now taking place with these action owners to ascertain the reasons for these failures to report and to ensure full and timely reporting in 2024 to 2025. Continued work on these actions is essential to achieve our interim net zero milestones by 2030 and organisational net zero by 2045 to 2050.

Construction

Although construction emissions are below target at year end, actual emissions are only reported on projects once construction is completed. A forecast is currently being used as a proxy, based on spend. We anticipate a potential upturn in construction carbon emissions in 2024 to 2025. The organisation’s net zero carbon for infrastructure (NZC4I) programme is working hard to drive down construction emissions. The programme is currently initiating workstreams to:

• map benefits
• share best practice (internally and externally)
• upskill colleagues in lower carbon ways of working
• engage the supply chain to improve data capture data and enable innovation

Cars

This category is over target due to an increase in hire and casual (private vehicles) car mileage, which is up 77% from last year. Hire car usage has increased by 250% since the baseline year of 2019 to 2020. It is likely that this is a consequence of the Environment Agency’s decision to reduce the number of lease cars by 761 vehicles (21%) since 2019 to 2020. Casual cars are significantly more carbon intense than lease cars - 165g per km vs 37g per km . Hire cars are more carbon intense than the average lease car at 121g per km. This modal shift, plus increased travel, has resulted in a 114% increase in carbon from 2022 to 2023 to 2023 to 2024.

Commuting

This category is under target this year. However, the Environment Agency’s 2023 to 2024 commuting survey shows an 11% increase in commuting this year compared to last year. This change is due to staff increasingly returning to work in our offices (with less home working than was the case during and after the pandemic). To ensure commuting emissions reduce in future years, it is essential that the organisation’s property strategy enables staff to commute in low carbon ways, by providing facilities to encourage and enable this e.g. adequate showering facilities, sufficient bike storage and active travel routes.

Computers

Due to loss of relevant staff in Digital, Data, Technology and Security (DDTS) no emissions data has been provided by DDTS in quarter 3 or quarter 4. We are confident that this situation will change in 2024 to 2025. However, we can calculate emissions as a factor of our spend and it is clear that emissions in this category are over target in 2023 to 2024. This is due to increased spend (up 40% year on year) with our key IT supplier, along with reporting methodology changes outlined in the summary above.

Pumping

Despite the significant rainfall and essential flood response throughout quarter 4, we remain under target for this category. This is primarily because these emissions are offset by the Ely-Ouse water transfer scheme not needing to operate. However, the emission effect of additional temporary pumping, using diesel fuel, can be seen in the ‘other direct’ category.

Other direct

The main reason that this category is over target in 2023 to 2024 is the high level of diesel fuel purchased. A total of 1,684,964 litres of fuel were purchased this year. This is a 36% increase in litres bought vs the baseline year of 2019 to 2020. The majority of this fuel is purchased for essential incident response, with higher rainfall leading to higher pumping emissions. Where temporary pumping provides a clear flood risk benefit, we need to look for innovative solutions and secure the investment required to replace all remaining diesel pumps with electric pumps.

Other indirect

We are also over target in the ‘other indirect’ category. This category includes the services and products which we buy through our supply chain, which dominates this category. We are outsourcing more services, which is resulting in increased emissions in this category. In 2023 to 2024, 20% of the emissions in this category related to facilities spend, in:

• building operations
• ground maintenance
• catering
• security

Aligning with the Defra methodology has also contributed to the 34% increase in emissions in this category in 2023 to 2024. Analysis shows that our top 10 suppliers in this category are responsible for 50% of these emissions. We will concentrate on these 10 suppliers in 2024 to 2025. We will work with ISS, newly appointed in 2023 to 2024 to provide facility services for the Environment Agency.

Quarterly Carbon dioxide equivalents emissions

Quarter	Total (tonnes)
Q1 2019 to 2020	8,529
Q2 2019 to 2020	14,019
Q3 2019 to 2020	22,297
Q4 2019 to 2020	31,217
Q1 2020 to 2021	5,078
Q2 2020 to 2021	4,243
Q3 2020 to 2021	4,748
Q4 2020 to 2021	5,558
Q1 2021 to 2022	5,558
Q2 2021 to 2022	4,082
Q3 2021 to 2022	14,724
Q4 2021 to 2022	20,485
Q1 2022 to 2023	53,901
Q2 2022 to 2023	121,056
Q3 2022 to 2023	181,032
Q4 2022 to 2023	295,832
Q1 2023 to 2024	100,031
Q2 2023 to 2024	139,658
Q3 2023 to 2024	171,387
Q4 2023 to 2024	269,339

Actions	Owners	Deadlines
Reporting - construction carbon data needs to be based on actual (rather than modelled) data in 2024 to 2025. Net zero roadmap actions need to be completed quarterly.	All action owners.	ongoing
Travel - continue to follow our existing corporate travel hierarchy. Line managers need to continue to explore any significant anomalies with their direct reports.	executive directors, directors and deputy directors.	ongoing
Services carried out through Defra - we need to ensure that sustainability is integrated into future performance assessment, to enhance emissions reduction.	Environment Agency Sustainability team to discuss with Defra Sustainability team to develop action plan.	ongoing

13. We manage our money effectively to deliver our outcomes

Q4 status	Q4 Actual - £million	Q4 Budget - £million	Year end target
Green	£ 1,947m	£1,953m	100%

Commentary

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 funding that we have invested. This is considered an appropriate measure, with expenditure being a proxy for achieving environmental outcomes and this measure is therefore inextricably linked to most of the other scorecard measures.

The Environment Agency ledgers were closed on 15th April, followed by a period of detailed financial review. The indicative outturn is subject to audit and final adjustments, but gives a reasonable indication of the financial performance for 2023 to 2024.

The indicative positions show a total year end outturn of £27 million overspend against resource budget (2.2%) and £27 million overspend against capital budget (3.9%). Total position is therefore a £54 million overspend against the budget allocation (2.8%).

Of these overspends, we had pre-agreed the following overspends against departmental expenditure limits (DEL) with Defra group: £9 million resource DEL and £43 million capital DEL. This makes the outturn against the group agreed DEL £3 million (0.3%) underspend on resource and £3 million (0.4%) underspend on capital, which is £6 million (0.3%) underspend on DEL in total.

This has been a financially challenging year, not least due to the complexities of reclassification. Actions taken across the Environment Agency in 2023 to 2024 around spending controls, recruitment controls, and optimisation of opportunities around group capital have all contributed to landing a good grant in aid (GiA) and DEL outturn against the group agreed position. However, overspend on charges has risen during the year and will need close management going forward.

We have measured the overall performance against the position that was agreed with Defra group. Without this prior approval we would not have overspent to this level against budget allocation, and it would therefore be misleading to discount this in the final performance rating.

Cumulative expenditure against YTD budget (%)

Quarter	Total
Q1 2020 to 2021	103%
Q2 2020 to 2021	93%
Q3 2020 to 2021	96%
Q4 2020 to 2021	96%
Q1 2021 to 2022	98%
Q2 2021 to 2022	95%
Q3 2021 to 2022	97%
Q4 2021 to 2022	100%
Q1 2022 to 2023	94%
Q2 2022 to 2023	94%
Q3 2022 to 2023	95%
Q4 2022 to 2023	100%
Q1 2023 to 2024	93%
Q2 2023 to 2024	91%
Q3 2023 to 2024	95%
Q4 2023 to 2024	100%

Cumulative expenditure against YTD budget (£million)

Quarter	Planned profiled cumulative expenditure (£million)	Actual cumulative expenditure (£million)
Q4 2019 to 2020	£1,305	£1,303
Q1 2020 to 2021	£304	£313
Q2 2020 to 2021	£707	£654
Q3 2020 to 2021	£1,117	£1,073
Q4 2020 to 2021	1,630	1,563
Q1 2021 to 2022	£321	£316
Q2 2021 to 2022	£750	£716
Q3 2021 to 2022	£1,182	£1,143
Q4 2021 to 2022	£1,635	£1,640
Q1 2022 to 2023	£348	£326
Q2 2022 to 2023	£746	£792
Q3 2022 to 2023	£1,262	£1,204
Q4 2022 to 2023	£1,755	£1,747
Q1 2023 to 2024	£338	£364
Q2 2023 to 2024	£848	£772
Q3 2023 to 2024	£1,353	£1,283
Q4 2023 to 2024	£1,953	£1,947

| Actions | Owners | Deadlines|
|——–|——–|

14. We have a diverse workforce

The proportion of our staff who are from a black, Asian and minority ethnic background

Q4 status	Q4 Actual	Q4 Target	Year end target
Red	6.1%	18%	18%

Commentary

Our current target is that 18% of all employees are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. However, in quarter one of 2024 to 2025 we will move to reporting against a smaller, but stretching annual target of 7.6% by end 2024 to 2025. The target is based on achieving over a 1.5%point improvement over 12 months. Targets will be reviewed annually to help us reach our longer term ambition of reflecting 18%, in line with the 2021 census.

In Q4 of 2023 to 2024, the proportion of employees from minority ethnic backgrounds in the Environment Agency was 6.1%. Overall, we have seen an increase of 1.7% since quarter one of 2020 to 2021. This increase is due to concentrating on recruitment improvements that include attracting more diverse talent and the large volume of vacancies we recruited. It’s also worth noting that representation across all groups have increased. In quarter 4 2023 to 2024, 12% of new recruits were from minority ethnic backgrounds compared to 7.9% in quarter 4 2022 to 2023. We continue the use of external recruitment experts PeopleScout, which has led to 15% of verbal offers being made to those from minority ethnic backgrounds. We have a number of career entry initiatives and in 33% of the Summer Diversity Internship programme (SDIP) participants who joined us in quarter 2 remain with us. Of these 8 have ecured permanent contracts. In quarter 3 we recruited the interns for the next SDIP, and we will welcome a smaller cohort of 27 interns in June 2024.

In quarter 3 and quarter 4, 10.6% (41) of our leavers were from minority ethnic backgrounds. This is a significant increase from 6.1% (23) in quarter 3 to quarter 4 2022 to 2023. This may be due to temporary staff who join with the SDIP scheme. This accounts for 23 of those leavers in quarter 3 to quarter 4. For all staff leaving the organisation, 39% (16 out of 41) of leavers from a minority ethnic background completed an exit questionnaire. The main reasons across all staff for leaving were:

• job dissatisfaction (27%)
• cCareer change (27%)
• salary (23%)

black, Asian and minority ethnic background staff as % of all staff

2023 to 2024 target = 18%

Quarter	Total
Q4 2022 to 2023	5.3 %
Q2 2023 to 2024	5.7%
Q4 2023 to 2024	6.1 %

The proportion of our executive managers who are female

Q4 status	Q4 Actual	Q4 Target	Year end target
Amber	45.7%	50%	50%

Commentary

We have a target of 50% of female representation at executive manager level. In quarter 4 2023 to 2024, the percentage of executive managers (EMs) who were female was 45.7% (53). In quarter 4 of 2022 to 2023 the percentage of female EMs sat at 48% (50). Although there are now more individual female EMs, there is a lower proportion of female EMs versus male EMs. In quarter 4 2023 to 2024, the percentage of grade 7 managers who were female was 41% (262), an increase from 39% (231) in quarter 4 2022 to2023. Whilst this is encouraging evidence of an increase in the internal talent pipeline for women into executive manager roles, there is still work to be done.

The EDI action plan includes commitments to improve the diversity in our employee population, including executive managers. Roles lasting 6 or more months are usually advertised externally and internally. However, this is not currently always the case as we are reshaping the workforce in some work areas and are prioritising internal mobility. Our internal guidelines are that all roles recruited to grade 7 and above should be conducted by diverse shortlisting and interview panels. This will use a diverse pool of trained recruitment volunteers from our centralised service, to drive more inclusive recruitment practices. As a result of this work, we have been seeing consistently higher levels of female EMs (no less than 45% in the past 6 quarters) and more women across our higher grades in general. This could explain why our gender pay gap this year favours women for the first time ever. As next steps we need an increased emphasis on linking the grade 7 talent pipeline to EM opportunities.

Proportion of executive managers (EMs) who are female %

2023 to 2024 target = 50%

Quarter	Total
Q4 2022 to 2023	48%
Q2 2023 to 2024	47.2%
Q4 2023 to 2024	45.7%

Actions	Owners	Deadlines
Review of corporate scorecard measures - creating internal in year targets for national and local teams.	Strategy Transformation and Assurance	complete
Pay gap reporting.	Strategy Transformation and Assurance	complete
EDI and race dashboard completion and wider roll out.	Strategy Transformation and Assurance	paused
Create internal in year targets for local business units	Strategy Transformation and Assurance	31/12/2024
SDIP 2024/2025	Strategy Transformation and Assurance	13/09/2024

15. We have the lowest possible lost time incident (LTI) frequency rate

Q4 status	Q4 Actual	Q4 Ceiling rate	Year end target
Green	0.10	0.11	0.11

Commentary

The lost time incident (LTI) frequency rate continues to be within the target range. We continue to:

• monitor and review every lost time injury
• to act if we identify lessons for the business
• ac swiftly on new incidents to share early lessons with the business to raise awareness

Lost time incident frequency rate

12 month rolling average

Quarter	Number
January 2022	0.07
February 2022	0.06
March 2022	0.05
April 2022	0.05
May 2022	0.04
June 2022	0.05
July 2022	0.05
August 2022	0.05
September 2022	0.06
October 2022	0.06
November 2022	0.08
December 2022	0.08
January 2023	0.10
February 2023	0.10
March 2023	0.10
April 2023	0.09
May 2023	0.10
June 2023	0.09
July 2023	0.10
August 2023	0.10
September 2023	0.11
October 2023	0.10
November 2023	0.10
December 2023	0.10
January 2024	0.09
February 2024	0.10
March 2024	0.10

Number of LTIs

Quarter	Number
Q1 2022 to 2023	4
Q2 2022 to 2023	3
Q3 2022 to 2023	8
Q4 2022 to 2023	6
Q1 2023 to 2024	3
Q2 2023 to 2024	7
Q3 2023 to 2024	6
Q4 2023 to 2024	8