Final list of new sustainable development indicators follows consultation

The Government has published its response to the issues raised in the consultation on new sustainable development indicators and the recommendations from the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into Measuring Sustainable Development and Wellbeing, listing the final set of indicators.

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Defra is developing a new set of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) to meet the Government’s commitments to transparency and sustainable development. The indicators are intended to provide an overview of national progress on key issues that are important economically, socially and environmentally in the long term, and will complement the National Wellbeing Measures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Consultation and inquiry

Defra published a proposed set of new indicators in July 2012 with the public consultation running to October 2012. A summary of high level messages from the consultation responses was published in March 2013.

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) launched an inquiry into Measuring Sustainable Development and Wellbeing, focusing initially on SDIs. The committee took evidence from officials and published its report inNovember 2012, followed by the Government’s response in May 2013.

The Government has now given full consideration to the recommendations made by the EAC and the issues raised in the public consultation and has drawn on them as to develop the final set of new indicators. Full details of the new indicators will be published on 18th July 2013.

Structure of the indicator set

There was broad support for the move towards a streamlined set of indicators comprising a small headline set and a number of supplementary indicators, and for the issues identified and their designation as headline or supplementary.

Some respondents commented on the need to ensure alignment between the SDIs and ONS work on Measuring National Wellbeing, or even to merge them into a single framework. The Government response clarifies that the two indicator sets currently fulfil different purposes: national well-being focuses on the current well-being of the nation while the SDIs capture progress over a longer time-frame and across the three pillars of the economy, society and environment.

Presentation of the indicators

The need to present more detailed value ranges or disaggregated data and for the measures to reflect inequalities were both consistent themes of the consultation responses and the EAC report. Several areas have been identified where value ranges could be presented to add context to the indicator: economic prosperity, long-term unemployment, knowledge and skills, population demographics, and healthy life expectancy.

Meeting demand for as much detail as possible on what is being measure, the final SDI publication will include interpretative commentary to aid understanding and interpretation of the final indicators. This will include key messages, context, relevance and limitations. Detailed information on data sources and definitions will also be presented.

The assessment of performance was another common theme. While the SDIs are not intended to be a target setting mechanism, a traffic light assessment will help to simplify interpretation of the data and provide a clear, quick summary of the general direction of travel on the majority of the indicators.

Content and scope of the indicators

The Government has responded to a number of detailed issues raised in relation to the content of the indicator set, included the state of development of some indicators and the use of a “stocks” approach to recognise the importance of different types of capital. Drawing on the feedback received, the final list of indicators has been drawn up as follows:

Headline indicators

Economy
Economic prosperity	GDP, GDP per head, equivalised median income (before housing costs)/td>
Long term unemployment	Percentage of people in unemployment for over 12 months by age group
Poverty	Proportion of children in relative poverty (before housing costs) Proportion of children in absolute poverty (before housing costs)
Knowledge & skills	Human Capital (£) by age group
Society
Life expectancy	Healthy life expectancy at birth
Social capital	Civic participation: The proportion of people engaging in actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern at least once a year Social networks/social support: The proportion of people who have a spouse, family member or friend to rely on if they have a serious problem Social participation: The proportion of people who volunteered more than once a year Trust: The proportion of people agreeing that many of the people in their neighbourhood can be trusted
Social mobility in adulthood	Proportion of working-age population employed in higher level occupations by social background
Housing provision	Net additional housing stock
Environment
Greenhouse gas emissions	Greenhouse gases generated within the UK and Greenhouse gases from UK consumption
Natural resource use	Raw material consumption in non-construction and construction sectors
Wildlife & biodiversity	Bird population indices – a) farmland birds, (b) woodland birds, (c) seabirds and (d) water and wetland birds
Water availability and use	Abstractions from non-tidal surface waters and ground waters

Supplementary indicators

Economy
Population demographics	Total population by age group Household demographics projected up until 2021.
Debt	Public sector net debt and public sector net borrowing as proportions of GDP to 2017/18
Pension provision	Employees in a pension scheme sponsored by their employer
Physical infrastructure	Value (£) of physical infrastructure by structure type
Climate change adaptation	Not identified
Research & development	Expenditure by UK business on Research and Development in cash and real terms and Environmental protection expenditure research and development expenditure
Environmental goods & services sector	Sales of Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services
Society
Avoidable mortality	Mortality from causes that are considered avoidable
Obesity	Prevalence of excess weight in both children (4-5 year olds and 10-11 year olds) and adults
Lifestyles	Prevalence of smoking in adults Proportion of adults doing 150 minutes of exercise per week Proportion of urban trips under 5 miles taken by (i) walking or cycling; (ii) public transport Average number of portions of fruit and vegetables consumed per day
Infant health	Low birth weight of term babies (full term babies with birth weight less than 2500g)
Air quality	Days when air pollution is moderate or higher in the UK
Noise	Noise complaints per 1000 population
Fuel poverty	Number of fuel poor households (thousands) in England
Environment
UK CO2 emissions by sector	Carbon dioxide emissions by sector
Energy consumed in the UK from renewable sources	Renewable energy consumption as a percentage of capped gross final energy consumption
Housing energy efficiency	Energy efficiency ratings of existing and new housing
Waste	The proportion of household waste being reused or recycled The proportion of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste being reused, recycled or recovered
Land use & development	Land use by type
Origins of food consumed in the UK	The origins of food consumed in the UK by region
River water quality	The biological and chemical quality of rivers
Fish stocks	Fish stocks harvested sustainably and at full reproductive capacity
Status of species & habitats	Change in status of priority habitats and species (to be developed in line with biodiversity indicators)
UK Biodiversity impacts overseas	To be developed in line with biodiversity indicators