Changes To Guidance For NI 195
The new Cleanliness Performance Indicator (NI 195) is based on the previous indicator (BVPI 199), but there have been a number of significant changes:
- Litter and detritus will in future be reported as two separate elements, rather than combined.
- Authorities will be given credit on sites where standards fall just below a satisfactory level (Grade B), by halving the weight given to these sites in calculating the overall Indicator score.
- A new ‘Photo Gallery’ has been provided on the website, to help surveyors make their grading assessments.
- The definitions of Housing Land Uses have been updated to reflect changing conditions including the impact of new planning policies, ‘right-to-buy’ and a continuing increase in car ownership.
- The process of analysing NI 195 surveys and making returns to Government has been streamlined.
- Advice is offered on the likely margins of error associated with NI 195 Survey results at local authority level.
- A separate website has been developed which authorities can use to carry out skills audits and to find out what skills development and training opportunities are available for staff at all levels involved in environmental management.
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For authorities wishing to carry out surveys of wards, groups of wards, individual neighbourhoods and other small areas using the NI 195 approach, advice can be obtained here.
- The Guidance Manual and Website for the previous Cleanliness Performance Indicator BVPI 199 will remain accessible for reference until April 2009.
Reporting NI 195 Returns
For the first two years of the previous Cleanliness Performance Indicator (BV 199), the average of local authority returns was very close to that of the national Local Environmental Quality Survey of England (LEQSE) carried out on behalf of Defra by ENCAMS.
However, in the following two years (2004/5 and 2005/6), the average local authority score was significantly lower than the LEQSE score. This pattern appears to have continued in 2006/7.
During consultations with local authority officers carried out by Defra in July and August 2007, a number of representations were received from officers who felt that some of their neighbouring authorities were reporting higher standards of cleanliness than they were actually achieving.
Some felt that their own Councillors and Senior Officers were putting them under pressure to achieve/report higher standards, although these expectations were based on inaccurate reporting by other authorities.
Other officers confirmed that this situation resulted from one of the features of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) procedure, in which authorities were encouraged to ‘aim at achieving a top quartile result’.
The new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) procedure will not contain the same emphasis on the ‘top quartile’, so there should be no reason for this pattern to be repeated.
In future, authorities should place emphasis on maximising the accuracy of their NI 195 survey – starting with the baseline score.
Using NI 195 To Set Future Targets
Because NI 195 is based on a sample survey of the whole authority, there is a margin of error associated with the estimated NI 195 score. Assuming the use of a standard survey method, the margin is determined largely by the size of the sample.
In setting targets, or agreeing targets in the context of Local Area Agreements, authorities should normally identify targets over a period of some years – e.g. three years for Local Area Agreements. Interim (and final) results should be assessed in the knowledge that there may be some margin of error. Further information is given in the Guidance Manual.
Skills Development and Training
One of the most important factors in achieving improved standards of cleanliness will be the opportunities for skills development and training. Defra has been working with a group of stakeholders to develop learning and training facilities for staff and managers involved in environmental management.
This has resulted in the development of a website (www.localenvironmentskills.org) which will enable staff and managers to undertake skills audits, to see where they need to develop their skills; and to search for skills development and training opportunities available from different providers within their region and elsewhere.
This website will be managed by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA),with support from the stakeholders involved in its initial development. The stakeholders have included Defra, the Asset Skills Sector Skills Council, the Local Government Association (LGA), the Waste Management Training and Advisory Board (WAMITAB), the Chartered Management Institute, the Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM), the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), Jobs Go Public, and ENCAMS.