1. business and industrial
2. green solutions

Performance Summary Report
NRW B B 26.15 Annex 1
This summary provides a strategic overview of NRW’s performance.
It brings together the progress against Corporate Plan Outcomes, Business Plan targets, and delivery of Business Case benefits.
Report dated: 7th May 2015
(Reporting period 3: 1st April 2014 - 31st March 2015)
Delivery against the Corporate Plan
Good Knowledge - In summary:
- We have reviewed our Natural Resource Management Programme to ensure clarity around vision, objectives, projects and resourcing. The programme is dependent on Welsh Government and the provisions included
in the draft Environment Bill and Wellbeing and Future Generations Bill.
- The Wales Environmental Information Hub for open data is now live with our sample datasets uploaded. We continue to work towards moving all legacy publiching to our service.
- We continue to support requests to develop our professional skill base.
- We have achieved our target to make data available through Access to Information requests
Good Environment - In summary:
-41% of Wales’ water bodies achieved good overall status in 2014, up from 37% in 2013. Most of the improvement is likely to be due to improvements in data/monitoring. The consultation on River Basin Management
Plans is underway and we are engaging with partners on improvements
-Welsh woodland known to be under sustainable management has again increased for 2014, however around 40% is under/un-managed. We are working with Welsh Government to develop the Glastir woodland element
-Since 1994 the UK bird population "all species" index has changed little. Within this the "woodland" index has increased, whilst the two "farmland" indicies have decreased. Through our work with partners we continue to
develop the ability to report
-The condition of habitats and species on the Welsh Special Area of Conservation series remains low at 26%. The LIFE N2K After LIFE Plan will identify the actions NRW (and other key stakeholders) could take to
improve the situation.
Our SAC monitoring programme reflects the most recent reported condition assessment for each feature. Terrestrial (74%) and freshwater (70%) feature assessments were undertaken in the last six years. Monitoring
has been undertaken on most of the marine features more recently and work is underway update assessment for 2015/16.
- Since 1990 Welsh emissions of Greenhouse Gasses have fallen by 18% (to 2012), but there has been a slight increase in 2012 as a result of increased coal use due to global fuel prices. The delivery actions in the
Climate Change Strategy action plan will be revised to enable the Welsh Government targets to be achieved in future years.
Good for People - In summary:
- Construction of flood alleviation schemes at Swansea Vale, Rhymney Tidal Embankment, Mawldan Weir and Penclawdd have been completed reducing the risk of flooding to 467 properties
- The 2011 Wales Outdoor Recreation Survey shows an increase to 32% in the percentage of adults who have met the required level of physical activity through participation in outdoor recreation in Wales.
- A new contract has been let to undertake face to face surveys and an assessment of the economic impact of the Wales Coast Path
- We are running a regional pilot in south Wales to bring currently unmanaged woodlands into management by working with social and small local enterprises
- We have delivered 789 educational settings supported. Our education enambling plan has been approved and we continue to develop the Cyfoeth (Cyfle) Placement scheme.
Good for Business - In summary:
- We have improved our position in responding to planning applications during the year achieving the required 90% within time during the final four months of the reporting year. Our overall performance for the year was
81%
- We met our target to issue 90% of permit applications within the determination period
- We are aware of 59 illegal waste sites in Wales. We have introduced a focused Waste and Industry Team and the ‘once in Wales' Enforcement department from April 2015.
- We met our gross income target of £16m for the year, achieving £17.7m
Good Organisation - In summary:
-Customer and Stakeholder satisfaction will be developed as part of our Customer Focus Programme in 2015/16
-We conducted our first People Survey in February 2015, achieving a 58% response rate and a staff engagement indexof 48%. We are looking at how we can improve and set a target for next year.
-We have reviewed our position against benchmarks and will now be setting targets for future years.
-We remain on target to achieve the 10 year cash realisable savings through NRW's creation. Further progress will be made with the Change Programme.
-We have used ~64% of our annual carbon budget in the first nine months of the year. We are currently bringing together our final 2014/15 position.
Delivery against the Business Plan
Good Knowledge - In summary:
- The NRM Transformation Programme has been refreshed with a new board and a clearer vision, strategic objectives
- The interim State of Natural Resrouces Report has been developed with Welsh Government and we are developing a package of products to support Environment Bill scrutiny
- Task and finish group have now been established as part of our monitoring review.
- Our
Communications
has been published
Delivery
againstStrategy
the Business
Case and we are now working to deliver this.
Good Environment - In Summary:
- Our UKWAS accreditation has been maintained. We have resolved the target numbers of actions on the Welsh Government Woodland Estate and National Nature Reserves
- To support the improvement of habitat connectivity we have completed a Level 2 mapping first draft for all habitats
- In delivering our part in halting biodiversity loss, we have gone from Green to Red (target was 80% action underway/complete, at Period 2 we had 60%, at year-end we had 63%).
- We have promoted the MoU with the Welsh Bee Keeper’s Association and have a new agreement for bee keeping at the Darwonno Centre in Llanwonno. We have developed an action plan for pollinators on the public
forest estate
- As part of our work to manage plant health pests and diseases we have issued notices on 417ha follwing helicopter surveys.
- Our Flood Risk Management Wales Capital programme has been published on our website
Good for People - In Summary:
- Recreation and Access, Communities and Regeneration, plus Education Strategies have been approved and are ready for implementation in 2015/16
- Launched our Tree Cover in Wales’ Towns and Cities study at the Climate Change Commission for Wales and started the production of county specific reports
- We have developed our new approach to partnership funding
- Flood and Coastal Risk Management Asset condition continues to improve and we met our target of 99%
- We have increased the level of protection against flooding for 467 properties
- We achieved a 16.5% reduction in serious incidents over the previous year.
- We have exceeded our target to raise people's awareness of their flood risk (18,884 at March 2015, against a 10,000 target)
Good for Business - In Summary:
- We published our 2015/16 Charging Scheme on our website on the 2nd April following a public consulation, and obtaining Board and Ministerial approvals
- We have determined 90% of permits, licences and consent to timescale (statutory or voluntary determination period)
- We have drafted an action plan for the development of the NRW Permitting Service for delivery in 2015/16 onwards
- We are facilitating commercial opportunities for: renewables, mobile infrastructure, holidays, gas and timber
- We are supporting six wind and five hydropower energy developments
- We have put to market 869,166m3 over bark standing of timber (including 267,000m3 larch)
Good Organisation - In Summary:
- We are now paying suppliers and collecting both regulatory and commercial income from a single system.
- Our forecast for Business Case benefits is £145m which is 9% below target, however we are still developing further efficiencies.
- There were two lost time incidents to our employees ithis year. We have developed a 3 year Wellbeing, Health & Safety (WHS) programme to improve our performance from 2015 onwards.
- We have reduced the number of properties we use with nine disposed of, and five mothballed. We now have 65 operational sites
- We have maintained ISO14001 certification following external LRQA audits. Based on our 9 month carbon footprint position, we expect to meet our 5% reduction target for this year.
Delivery against the Business Case
Good Knowledge - In summary:
- We have continued to embed Natural Resource Management within our ways of working, and this forms a key element of our new transformation portfolio.
- Our new GIS system has enabled us to bring together previously disparate data and information into one place for managing and analysing the spatial information.
- We have a new Document Management System in place and accessible across our network.
- The new Forester GIS application migrated onto our systems in November allowing access from any of our offices
Good Environment - In summary:
- We have re-engineered processes, taking new, leaner and more efficient approaches. For example, the collection and analysis of water samples is now integrated into one system
Good for People - In summary:
- Our Customer Care Centre has been established and gives a single point of contact for natural resource matters in Wales and is focussed exclusively on issues of importance to customers in Wales.
- Our Communication Strategy has been agreed and published
- We have delivered a new flood map service allowing live accessing of flood warnings
- Our new Website has been constructed, and new Intranet launched, both with improved functionality
- New branding for visitor centres and other sites is in progress
Good for Business - In summary:
- Our simpler and more consistent approach to hydropower is giving greater clarity to developers, helping us issue permits more quickly and making it easier for us to minimise risks of significant environmental impacts.
- The development of our single Town and country planning and development control system is progressing and is due by May 2015
- We have a new Waste and Water exemptions system along with a new Carrier and Brokers system which deliver improved processing
- The permit review under the Industrial Emissions Directive for the integrated steel works in Port Talbot was an example of the advantages we have delivered in terms of complex projects, providing advice and guidance
more speedily and allowing Tata to optimise their investment to achieve the greatest environmental benefit.
Good Organisation - In summary:
- We have exited from 29 out of the 40 transitional services, with the rest scheduled to end within 2 years.
- In line with our ICT strategy, all offices (2000 users) have access to our new networks and all staff now have NRW computers and telephones
- A new ICT service desk established
- In partnership with the trade unions, we unified terms and conditions in a new reward package for staff.
- We restructured to integrate our functions, create place based teams and complete the process of creating single corporate service teams.
- Our new Enterprise Resource Planning system was also a major step in bringing the key organisational finance and human resource information into one place
- We made good progress rationalising our accommodation and depots with a programme of quick wins that have reduced the number of operational sites to 65, driven down costs and helped bring staff together.
[A3 portrait document]
Progress towards... Good Knowledge
What does good look like: gaining wisdom and understanding of our natural resources and how we affect them - using evidence and applying learning from
experience, so that we make good decisions
Corporate indicators
(This shows the status of the Good Knowledge indicators from our Corporate Plan 2014-2017)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In summary:
- We have reviewed our Natural Resource Management Programme to ensure clarity around vision, objectives, projects and resourcing. The programme is dependent on Welsh Government and the provisions included in
the draft Environment Bill and Wellbeing and Future Generations Bill.
- The Wales Environmental Information Hub for open data is now live with our sample datasets uploaded. We continue to work towards moving all legacy publiching to our service.
- We continue to support requests to develop our professional skill base.
- We have achieved our target to make data available through Access to Information requests
What’s the picture?*:
Stock take undertaken of the Natural Resource Management programme to ensure that the work was focussed on
the right things with the appropriate levels of Governance. In parallel, discussions on the new corporate Road Map
identified natural resource management as one of the vision critical programmes. There will be a closer focus on
business change and ensuring that the programme is delivering the products to meet the needs of changing the
business. The programme is dependent on Welsh Government and the provisions included in the Environment Bill
and Wellbeing and Future Generations Bill. The three trials are an important part of the programme. We have drawn
on the learning from the trials to inform the areas identified for change and the projects. This approach ensures we
are using evidence from the trials on the lessons learnt to inform our broader organisational embedding.
What has been done so far to improve?:
Over the last 2 months we have completed a refresh of the programme, defining: * A vision for the programme; *
Strategic Objectives * Areas for change/ improvement * Projects * Resource estimate and business owners The
Governance arrangements have also been revised, with a new programme board terms of reference and
membership agreed. There will be a closer focus on business change and ensuring that the programme is delivering
the products to meet the needs of changing the business. In the New Year the Programme Board will meet for the
first time to endorse the work completed so far.
What will be done next to improve?:
We have been working very closely with Welsh Government officials to understand the provisions in the proposed
Environment Bill and what will be required of us. We have used this intelligence to inform the development of the
programme and the next phase of the Area trials.
What partners share
accountability for achieving
"Good Knowledge" ?
Each of us in Wales, including
 Local communities
 Key partners in the trial areas
Private sector, including:
 None identified for this grouping
Public Sector, including:
 Welsh Government
 Local FE college
 Universities
Third Sector, including:
 Non Governmental
Organisations (e.g. Wildlife
Trusts, RSPB, as well as social
charities)
What’s the picture?*:
External data publishing services have been maintained
What has been done so far to improve?
Existing data publishing services have been maintained through legacy data downloads and web sites for 2 years.
Proof of concept for automated upload to Welsh Government portal. Sample data sets uploaded to the Hub and
products prepared from publishing in April. Mechanism for supplying licenced data to customers has also been
implemented and tested and is ready to take up these services from April.
What other data do we need to
see if “Good Knowledge” is
being delivered?
 Nothing currently identified
What will be done next to improve?
Remaining Open data datasets will be uploaded to the Hub in April 2015 to fully replicate the service. Legacy
publishing services will be terminated and all publishing will be through our new services. Improved communications
informing staff and customers of the new data publishing services Further review of datasets to identify more products
that can be re-categorised as open and added to the Portal and increase the number of open datasets available. We
will work with Information Asset Owners to gain further understanding of their data assets and identify other products
appropriate for publishing. Pilot and implement more frequent updates for live and Non GIS datasets using automated
timed uploads/refreshes/change only updates so that we can move from manual extraction to automated publishing.
What’s the picture?*:
Targets achieved at end of year.
What has been done so far to improve?
New processes have been introduced to improve our timeliness in responding to requests
What will be done next to improve?
Continue to work with the business in implementing the new processes.
What’s the picture?*:
There is a need to actively promote and encourage staff to become members of recognised professional associations
and increase our professional skill base through supporting requests for financial assistance.
What has been done so far to improve?:
We have already supported a number requests to undertake professional studies from across the business
What will be done next to improve?:
Ongoing work across Natural Resources Wales to establish Heads of Profession, develop a mechanism to identify
high-level learning and development solutions to address cross-cutting skills and capability gaps as identified.
Programme Director: Ceri Davies
Programme Budget: £13m (including 185FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... Good Knowledge
What does good look like: gaining wisdom and understanding of our natural resources and how we affect them - using evidence and applying learning from
experience, so that we make good decisions
Business measures
(This shows progress towards selected Good Knowledge mesures from our Business Plan 2014-2015)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In summary:
- The NRM Transformation Programme has been refreshed with a new board and a clearer vision, strategic objectives
- The interim State of Natural Resrouces Report has been developed with Welsh Government and we are developing a package of products to support Environment Bill scrutiny
- Task and finish group have now been established as part of our monitoring review.
- Our Communications Strategy has been published and we are now working to deliver this.
Detail is provided below for measures where:
 an important target has been achieved during this reporting period
 there is an issue that we believe to be worthwhile discussing (e.g. if our position against a target is not where we expected it to be, or the trend, or likely future performance, gives us cause for concern)
 a detailed measure update has been requested by the Board for this reporting period
Good Knowledge
+
[P] [I] We develop Wales’ approach to integrated
natural resource management
Period 1
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
Amber
Amber
↑
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
[P] [I] We work with Welsh Government to develop
funding mechanisms to support integrated natural
resource management
Green
Green
Current achievement:
Target
Current achievement
Report learning from three integrated natural resource
management trials (Dyfi, Rhondda, Tawe) to Welsh Government
by March 2015.
We will now report learning from the trials to
support scrutiny of the Environment Bill
The Natural Resources Management Transformation Programme has been refreshed with a new board and a clearer vision, strategic
objectives. The first tranche of the programme has been defined and a total of 26 project charters have been developed. The programme
team is in the process of finalising these with the identified project executives and managers for final sign–off by the Programme Board in
early May 2015.
Finalise the project and programme milestones and monitoring and reporting requirements.
-
Green
Funding round launched (August 2014)
Funded projects agreed (March 2015)
Funding round launched (August 2014)
Funded projects agreed (March 2015)
The NRM Programme Refresh has identified two specific projects to optimise the use of external funds and partnership funding to secure
outcomes. These projects will run through 2015, and will explicitly consider how external funds will be able to support delivery of the
priorities and opportunities identified in the Area Statements.
Welsh Government has just announced the new round of funding for eNGOs, the third sector and local authorities.
What are we doing next:
+
[P] We work with Welsh Government to develop
natural resources policy, including delivery of a State
of Natural Resources report
Amber
Amber
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
What we are going to do next: Monitor progress on the two projects within the Programme.
↑
Green
Develop interim report by November 2014
(first full report September 2016)
Interim report has now been developed
The interim report has now been developed in agreement with Welsh Government
We are scoping out a package of products to submit to Welsh Government by early May to feed into the scrutiny on the Environment Bill.
This will include
i) a vision for SoNaRR setting out our direction of travel for capturing and reporting on evidence on state of natural resources over the
next 2-3 reporting cycles
ii) a statement on the types of evidence / data sets that we currently hold in NRW and what this evidence is saying about the state of our
NR.
iii) an engagement plan setting out how we intend to engage with stakeholders on co-production and to inform on SoNaRR
We now have greater clarity over the final SoNaRR product following scoping work undertaken internally
+
We review our monitoring strategy and apply
recommendations to our operational work
Amber
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
-
Green
Review and implement our monitoring, analysis and reporting
programme
Project governance has been finalised
Established the Monitoring and Reporting Board and associated thematic sub-groups (task and finish groups)
Initiated the monitoring review, with governance arrangements in place and the initial work packages started
By December 2015 we will undertake an initial review of our monitoring programme to ensure that we have a clear understanding of our
drivers and priorities, and the relative cost and effectiveness of different delivery methods, including delivery by third parties. We will
define costed options for the 2016-17 monitoring programme with the aim of achieving a 10% saving in monitoring costs.
By March 2016 we will prepare a monitoring strategy to set out how we expect our monitoring service to evolve over the next 5-10 years
to meet the needs of NRW, making best use of technological advances and new approaches in monitoring, and with the aim of achieving
a 25% saving over current baseline costs by 2020
+
+
We assess our abilities so that we are able to
effectively engage with the public and share our
technical advice and expertise with others or seek
support where required
We develop our ability to better explain and
communicate complex issues to a wide range of
stakeholders
Green
Green
Green
Communications strategy signed off October 2014. Operate
rolling customer insight programme
Communications strategy signed off October
2014. Rolling reports on technical advice
provided
Current achievement:
New communications evaluation process established phase 1 focus on media and social media (linked to Insight Project)
Established communications project planning approach with mandatory evaluation to provide insight and continuous improvement
Established Customer Care programme
What are we doing next:
Phase 2 communications evaluation to include customer satisfaction, complaints, consultation response & service usage data (inc
website)
Finalise proposals for awareness survey
Establish website user group
Develop customer feedback tool on every page of the website
Green
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
Programme Director: Ceri Davies
-
-
Green
Communications strategy signed off and Rolling customer insight
programme providing reports
Communications strategy signed off October
2014. Rolling reports on technical advice
provided
Development and roll out of phase 1 Roadmap
Intranet revamped and internal communications channels streamlined
Early development of NRM narrative
New Content Management System installed and new website launched
Improved Cyfoeth launched including improved stakeholder feedback
Completed communications change programme and established integrated communications delivery model
Increased media network across the UK with particular focus online and broadcast media
Phase 2 communications evaluation to include customer satisfaction, complaints, consultation response & service usage data (inc
website)
Finalise proposals for public awareness survey
Establish website user group
Develop customer feedback tool on every page of the website
Implement subscriber based online newsletters with customer feedback mechanism
Programme Budget: £13m (including 185FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... A Good Environment
What does “good” look like:
Ecosystems are resilient and secured for the future, wildlife and landscapes are enhanced, and the use of our natural resources is carefully managed
Corporate indicators
(This shows the status of the Good Environment indicators from our Corporate Plan 2014-2017)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In summary:
-41% of Wales’ water bodies achieved good overall status in 2014, up from 37% in 2013. Most of the improvement is likely to be due to improvements in data/monitoring. The consultation on River Basin Management Plans is
underway and we are engaging with partners on improvements
-Welsh woodland known to be under sustainable management has again increased for 2014, however around 40% is under/un-managed. We are working with Welsh Government to develop the Glastir woodland element
-Since 1994 the UK bird population "all species" index has changed little. Within this the "woodland" index has increased, whilst the two "farmland" indicies have decreased. Through our work with partners we continue to
develop the ability to report
-The condition of habitats and species on the Welsh Special Area of Conservation series remains low at 26%. The LIFE N2K After LIFE Plan will identify the actions NRW (and other key stakeholders) could take to improve the
situation.
Our SAC monitoring programme reflects the most recent reported condition assessment for each feature. Terrestrial (74%) and freshwater (70%) feature assessments were undertaken in the last six years. Monitoring has been
undertaken on most of the marine features more recently and work is underway update assessment for 2015/16.
- Since 1990 Welsh emissions of Greenhouse Gasses have fallen by 18% (to 2012), but there has been a slight increase in 2012 as a result of increased coal use due to global fuel prices. The delivery actions in the Climate
Change Strategy action plan will be revised to enable the Welsh Government targets to be achieved in future years.
What’s the picture?*:
41% of Wales’ water bodies achieved good overall status in 2014. The biggest issues causing impacts are: poor land
management practices resulting in pollution and habitat degradation, pollution from redundant metal and coal mines,
physical modifications and barriers to fish migration, including flood risk assets, continuous and intermittent sewage
discharges and impacts of acidification and forestry
What has been done so far to improve? During the first cycle we have worked with the third sector to deliver WFD
improvements in partnership. This has allowed us to “unlock” significant match-funding opportunities. Between 2011
and 2013 we have had involvement in £4.4 million worth of projects, with over a third of funds contributed by partners
and external funders. This has delivered: 400ha of habitat created or restored and 370km of river enhanced or
protected; 152 individual WFD water bodies identified as benefitting from projects.
Ea - Water Environment
What will be done next to improve?
The consultation on the updated River Basin Management Plans closed on 10 April. We will review responses and
develop a prioritised programme of measures to achieve Water Framework Directive objectives for 2015-21. The
updated River Basin Management Plans will be submitted to Welsh Government in September 2015.
What’s the picture?*: indicator already completed for this year. Upward trend from 179000ha (2013) known minimum
to 203000ha (2014) Upward trend from 201000ha (2013) maximum estimate 227000ha (2014) Actual figure likely to be
higher
What has been done so far to improve?:
Work with Welsh Government on development of Glastir Woodland Element - Work with Welsh Government forest
policy branch and across Land, nature, Marine and Forestry Division
Eb - Sustainable Forest Management
What will be done next to improve?:
There is no current woodland grant scheme open to applications for either management or creation. We are working
hard with Welsh Government and the forest sector to help the relevant departments in Welsh Government to make
this happen as quickly as possible.
What’s the picture?*:
Wild bird populations are considered to be a good indicator of the broad state of wildlife and the countryside.Bird
populations vary from year to year. The ‘all species’ index is at a similar level in 2012 as in 1994, but this masks
different trends in species associated with particular habitats. The two farmland bird indices have shown largely
consistent downward trends throughout the period, with the ‘birds of farmed habitats’ index at a level in 2012 c. 15%
below that in 1994. The woodland bird index, by contrast, has increased over this same period.
What has been done so far to improve?
Practical delivery of actions on the ground is dependent on farmers and land managers. In addition, practical delivery
projects, including some funded through a Joint Working Partnership with RSPB, as well as section15 management
agreements on SSSIs have contributed to positive management by landowners. Such action, along with advice and
guidance in relation to Glastir, may contribute to improvements.
What partners share
accountability for achieving a
“Good Environment?”
Each of us in Wales, including
 Householders
Third sector, including:
 Non GovernmentalOrganisations
 Woodland Trust
 the National Trust
 Wildlife Trusts
 UK Woodland Assurance
Scheme (FSC and PEFC)
Private sector, including:
 Planners
 Developers
 Land managers
 Land users
 Farmers
 Businesses
 UK Forest Products Association
(UKFPA)
 Fishermen
 Confederation of Forest
Industries (ConFor)
 Wales Forest Business
Partnership
 Utility companies
Public sector, including:
 Local authorities
 Public authorities
 Developers
 Land managers
 Land users
 Forestry Commission (UK
Forestry Standard)
 WG policy and Glastir delivery
What other data do we need to
see if a “Good Environment” is
being delivered?
 A fair measure of woodland
condition
What will be done next to improve?
An index based on birds alone is not fully representative of biodiversity. Our intention is to supplement this indicator
of bird populations with similar information for other taxonomic groups as and when it becomes available in sufficient
quantity to generate reliable indices. Through our work with partners we continue to develop the ability to report
indices for other taxa, notably bats and butterflies.
What’s the picture?*:
- Total greengouse gas emissions from Wales have reduced between 1990 and 2012 by 18%, whilst carbon dioxide
emissions have fallen by 14%.
- These emission reductions are a result of a decline in manufacturing emissions (e.g. in iron and steel, bulk chemical
production), efficiencies in energy generation and heating, the use of natural gas to replace some coal and other fuels
as well as abatement in some chemical industries.
- The 2011 to 2012 increase of emissions is predominantly driven by a slight shift from natural gas back to coal due to
global fuel prices
What has been done so far to improve?:
A wide range of actions outlined in the Mitigation Delivery Plan of the Climate Change Strategy for Wales have been
undertaken to reduce emissions across all sectors. There are many individual projects across Wales that are explicitly
seeking to reduce emissions either through reducing the carbon intensity of energy by delivering more renewable
capacity, reducing resource use and/or increasing recycling rates as well as energy efficiency measures. Encouraging
behavioural change through communication campaigns and the reduction of other barriers to change are recognised
as key to delivering emission reductions too. The annual reporting of the Climate change Strategy seeks to summarise
progress across Wales in delivery of emission reduction targets set out in the strategy – the latest Annual report was
published in December 2013
What will be done next to improve?
A refresh of the Climate Change Strategy and the associated actions is in progress. NRW has provided input in terms
of a Ministerial briefing, input to the Climate Change Commission for Wales response and additional discussions with
Welsh Government. The delivery actions will be revised to increase emission reductions that enable the Welsh
Government targets to be achieved in future years. Within the land use sector, which has made least progress, a
review of the Land Use and Climate Change group report published in 2010 is underway. This work undertaken by
ADAS, Bangor and Aberystwyth Universities has focussed on reviewing progress with its recommendations. Through
our membership of the Land Use Sub-group of the Commission, NRW has input to this review.
What’s the picture?*:
Data is derived from our SAC monitoring programme and reflect the most recent reported condition assessment for
each feature as of 31st March 2015. The bulk of the terrestrial (74%) and freshwater (70%) feature assessments were
undertaken in the six years to 31st March 2015. The proportion of marine features with a recently updated assessment
is much lower (13% in the same 6 year period) and hence the picture presented by this data should be treated with
some caution and may be subject to change as the assessments are updated. Monitoring has been undertaken on
most of these marine features more recently and work is currently underway to analyse the results, with updated
assessments scheduled to be produced in 2015/16.
What has been done so far to improve?:
Our LIFE N2K programme is working to compile actions required to address existing issues and future risks to
features on the SAC series which are currently acting as barriers to achieving favourable condition. In addition the
project is looking to plan and cost these actions identifying the various organisations which would be required to
deliver these actions. In the 2014/15 financial year 220 actions have either been completed or instigated (logged as
underway) by our officers to address conservation management issues on SSSIs (many of which underpin SACs).
Priority amongst these actions has been given to sites of European importance and measures identified in Water
Framework Directive Management Plans.
What will be done next to improve?:
The LIFE N2K After LIFE Plan will identify the actions we (and other key stakeholders) could take, the relative
priorities and the resource requirements. Committing to taking action will be dependent on NRW budget and other
resource (staff) capacity.
*What’s the picture? (i.e. what does the current state of this indicator tell us?)
Programme Director: Graham Hillier
Programme Budget: £46m (including 571FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... A Good Environment
What does “good” look like:
Ecosystems are resilient and secured for the future, wildlife and landscapes are enhanced, and the use of our natural resources is carefully managed
Business measures
(This shows progress towards selected Good Environment mesures from our Business Plan 2014-2015)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In Summary:
- Our UKWAS accreditation has been maintained. We have resolved the target numbers of actions on the Welsh Government Woodland Estate and National Nature Reserves
- To support the improvement of habitat connectivity we have completed a Level 2 mapping first draft for all habitats
- In delivering our part in halting biodiversity loss, we have gone from Green to Red (target was 80% action underway/complete, at Period 2 we had 60%, at year-end we had 63%).
- We have promoted the MoU with the Welsh Bee Keeper’s Association and have a new agreement for bee keeping at the Darwonno Centre in Llanwonno. We have developed an action plan for pollinators on the public forest
estate
- As part of our work to manage plant health pests and diseases we have issued notices on 417ha follwing helicopter surveys.
- Our Flood Risk Management Wales Capital programme has been published on our website
Detail is provided below for measures where:
 an important target has been achieved during this reporting period
 there is an issue that we believe to be worthwhile discussing (e.g. if our position against a target is not where we expected it to be, or the trend, or likely future performance, gives us cause for concern)
 a detailed measure update has been requested by the Board for this reporting period
A Good Environment
+
+
+
We ensure the sustainable management of land
and water we manage
[P] We work with others to improve connectivity
and restoration of priority habitats and their
linkages as part of integrated natural resource
management plans
We ensure climate change adaptation is embedded
in all areas of our work.
Period 1
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
Amber
Amber
↑
Green
What are we doing next:
WGWE – we have developed an action plan to close out actions from 2014 audit (these are not part of 14/15 target but will be delivered
during 15/16 for the 2015 audit), assigned owners and made the action plan available to the Executive Team. 15 NNR audits will be planned
for 2015/16, actions will be carried over from 2014/15 and will be included within the plan for the coming year.
Green
Green
Green
Green
Green
Green
N/A
Green
Green
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
+
[I] We consider streamlined innovative
approaches
We ensure accurate information on flood risk is
available to the public and stakeholders
Amber
Green
-
Green
Apply parts 1 & 2 of Welsh Government Climate Change
Adaptation Guidance to our organisation by March 2015
Parts 1 & 2 of Welsh Government Climate Change
Adaptation Guidance applied
We have completed the analysis of the 250 NRW activities and identified 5 priority areas for trialling of our approach to embedding
consideration of climate change in our work during 15/16. We have engaged the support of the Board through a presentation and 2 Board
papers that has resulted in approval of our approach.
We will begin the implementation of the approach within the 5 trial work areas.
↓
Red
80% of our actions underway or complete
63% actions underway/complete from July work
plan
The reason for performance are, competing work demands including a significant Glastir casework loads, LIFE Natura 2000 Prioritised
Improvement Plans, Special Area of Conservation management plans and difficult SSSI confirmations. The 63% actions underway/complete
reflects those updated on the reporting database at the year end. There is a time lag between actions and updating the reporting database.
A work plan for 2015/16 is being developed considering the most pressing actions and available resourcing
↓
Amber
Implement a programme of measures on NRW sites by 31 March
2015
We continue to manage NNRs for a range of wild
pollinating species, improve the habitat value of the
Public Forest Estate
Promoted the MoU with the Welsh Bee Keeper’s Association within NRW by circulating posters of the MoU.
We have a new agreement for bee keeping at the Darwonno Centre in Llanwonno which involved the transportation and re-hiving of a colony
of bees from a derelict building that was being torn down.
We will publicise this agreement and continue to promote the MoU.We have developed a work plan andfurther work will be needed to fully
cost the plan in 2015/16. Opportunities are being explored to improve / expand habitats for pollinators within existing resources.
-
Green
Implement control plans on the Welsh Government Woodland
Estate
Helicopter surveillance for P ramorum completed.
60 sites found to be positive and notices have
been served on 417ha
Surveillance for a range of pests and diseases has been undertaken and significant coupe planning and management (civil engineering,
felling and other clearance) has been undertaken on the WGWE. A number of events have been undertaken to ensure knowledge exchange
with the wider sector. We are working to ensure the latest pest and disease issues are up to date. We have started work on 4 long Term
Contracts harvesting infected larch. We have also harvested 40 ha of uninfected larch as part of a strategy to reduce the risk posed by P
ramorum.
Carry out annual surveillance programme and issue notices where required. Continue to develop knowledge of pests and diseases. Continue
the management of P ramorum on the WGWE aiming to fell 240 000m3 in 2015/16. Work to develop a Wales specific risk register. Complete
the compliance checks required for P ramorum notices. We will continue to undertake an update survey for ash dieback following the latest
understanding of the disease. A further 2 Long Term Contracts will start in 2015/16 and we will continue to harvest infected and uninfected
material as planned.
-
Green
Develop and support approaches that demonstrate innovation,
collaboration and best practice
Approaches being supported including Greener
Grangetown
Current achievement:
Greener Grangetown: Ongoing involvement in the public consultation process. Support to project management, technical scheme design,
strategic direction and quality assurance. We undertake this alongside Cardiff Council and Dŵr Cymru. Cardiff Council has extended the
consultation timescale until June 2015. Construction is expected in Autumn 2015.
What are we doing next:
Greener Grangetown: Technical input to scheme designs (specifically on water quality, water efficiency, green infrastructure, amenity and
biodiversity) and continued project involvement.
Green
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
Programme Director: Graham Hillier
Level 2 mapping first draft completed for all
habitats
We will continue development and refinement of connectivity mapping, including i) application to the prioritisation of restoration of peatland
habitats to benefit biodiversity and a range of ecosystem services, and ii) exploring the revision of woodland connectivity mapping to include
remote-sensed hedgerow data and habitat information from within the WG Forest Estate.
What are we doing next:
We manage outbreaks of plant health pests and
diseases
Complete Level 2 Connectivity mapping by December 2014
What are we doing next:
Current achievement:
+
Green
- Completion of Level 2 mapping for selection of main habitats and significant and exciting progress towards developing prioritised peatland
restoration maps.
- Provision of data and guidance on applying connectivity to NRW trial areas, FRPs, and related landscape-scale projects with partners.
- Application of connectivity mapping layers to the ongoing revision of the Upland Framework.
- Continued engagement with wider research and development into connectivity and its application, including involvement with Liverpool
University’s development of the connectivity mapping tool ‘Condatis’.
What are we doing next:
We will develop our approach to pollinators
-
Current achievement:
Current achievement:
+
Actions resolved and UKWAS accreditation
maintained
Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE) - Closed out actions from 2013 audit report as outlined in previous report so no further action
required for 2014/15 target.
NNR - 10 NNR audits have been completed and reports issued, one more is to be completed pending a site visit, one further planned visit
was postponed due to the responsible member of staff leaving the post. Of 70 actions identified, 38 have been completed (over the 50%
target), 28 are in progress and 14 are yet to be actioned.
What are we doing next:
[P] We will play our part and work with others to halt
biodiversity loss in order to help ensure that, by 2020,
ecosystems are more resilient
Current achievement
Actions resolved arising from NNR and WGWE audit. Maintain
UKWAS accreditation
Current achievement:
Current achievement:
+
Target
-
Green
Publish flood maps (in quarter one), capital and maintenance
programmes (in quarter two)
Published flood maps (in quarter one), capital and
maintenance programmes (in quarter two)
What we have done so far: The 2014/15 Routine and Intermittent Flood Risk Maintenance programmes & The 2014/15 Flood Risk
Management Wales Capital Programme have been published on our website. The 2014/15 Flood Risk Management Wales Capital
Programme was updated on our website following approval at January’s FRMW committee meeting.
What we are going to do next: The end of year 2014/15 Flood Risk Management Wales Capital Programme report will be published on our
website following approval at June’s FRMW committee meeting. The 2015/16 Flood Risk Management Wales Capital Programme report will
be published on our website following approval at June’s FRMW committee meeting.
Programme Budget: £46m (including 571FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... Good for People
What Good looks like: people are safe and enjoy and benefit from our natural resources and understand their relevance in our day to day lives
Corporate indicators
(This shows the status of the Good for People indicators from our Corporate Plan 2014-2017)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In summary:
- Construction of flood alleviation schemes at Swansea Vale, Rhymney Tidal Embankment, Mawldan Weir and Penclawdd have been completed reducing the risk of flooding to 467 properties
- The 2011 Wales Outdoor Recreation Survey shows an increase to 32% in the percentage of adults who have met the required level of physical activity through participation in outdoor recreation in Wales.
- A new contract has been let to undertake face to face surveys and an assessment of the economic impact of the Wales Coast Path
- We are running a regional pilot in south Wales to bring currently unmanaged woodlands into management by working with social and small local enterprises
- We have delivered 789 educational settings supported. Our education enambling plan has been approved and we continue to develop the Cyfoeth (Cyfle) Placement scheme.
What’s the picture?*:
Construction on the flood alleviation schemes at Swansea Vale, Penclawdd, Rhymney Tidal Embankment and
Mawldan Weir have been completed reducing the risk of flooding to 467 properties. Our Flood Risk Capital budget
was £18.2 million this year. We have over 200 projects in the capital programme.
What partners share
accountability for achieving
"Good for People?”
What has been done so far to improve?:
Construction of flood alleviation schemes at Swansea Vale, Rhymney Tidal Embankment, Mawldan Weir and
Penclawdd have been completed reducing the risk of flooding to 467 properties.
Each of us in Wales, including:
 Local Communities
(particularly, residents in areas
at risk of flooding)
 Greenspace volunteers
What will be done next to improve?
Work will continue on schemes to be delivered in 2015/16. Those include Risca, Dolgellau, Isca Road, Newton and
ffordd Isa
Third Sector, including:
 NGO’s (particularly Sustrans
and The Ramblers)
 Agored Cymru
What’s the picture?*:
Comparing the results from the 2008 and the 2011 survey shows that there has been a significant increase in the
percentage of adults who have met the required level of physical activity through participation in outdoor recreation in
Wales. In 2008 29% met the required target of 150 minutes of moderate to intensive physical activity per week. This
increased significantly by 2011 to 32% of adults. The results show that participation in outdoor recreation is helping
people to ‘turn the curve’ and increase their physical activity levels and therefore improve their health. Increased
physical activity has been proven to reduce obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and certain types of cancer.
New NRW research has used the World Health Organisation’s Health Economic Assessment Tool to value the health
benefits of outdoor recreation. Using the Wales Coast Path as a case study, this innovative research found that health
benefits of walking on the path was £18.3m per year.
Private Sector, including:
 None identified for this grouping
Public Sector, including:
 Welsh Government (Health
Improvement Division)
 Public Health Wales
 Sport Wales
 Local Authorities
 Visit Wales
 National Park Authorities
What has been done so far to improve?
We are currently developing a spatial prioritisation tool to help inform our decisions about where best to focus our
resources for maximum benefits, including improving health and well-being.
What will be done next to improve?
The Recreation and Access Enabling Plan, will inform and steer our future work on this area.
What other data do we need to
see if Good for People” is being
delivered?
What’s the picture?*:
Most local authorities have insufficient green space within walking distance of the homes of most of their citizens. Due
to the densely built up nature of many urban areas, it will be impossible to achieve 100% compliance with this
indicator, however it will be possible to increase the percentage compliance and to take action to ameliorate any
remaining deficiency by creating green walls, roadside rain gardens (as part of sustainable urban drainage systems
like the one proposed for the Greener Grangetown project), planting street trees etc.
What has been done so far to improve?:
All local authorities were offered grant aid by a legacy body to assess their accessible natural green space. The Welsh
Government has adopted the Green Flag Awards as an indicator for their programme for government. Local
authorities have developed supplementary planning guidance for green space, and have included policies on access
to green space in their local development plans.
 Two greenspace datasets
combined
 Updated Welsh Outdoor
Recreation Survey
 Improved volunteer data
 More complete 'educational
What will be done next to improve?:
We have created a dataset of all green space in Wales and has made that available to all local authorities so they can
use it as a modern base-map of their own accessible natural green space. We are working with Torfaen CBC to
update it. We will use this as a case study to encourage all other local authorities to update their own data. We wrote
to all local authorities which participated in the original accessible greenspace mapping work to offer to host a seminar
on how to “ground truth” their data. All local authority Local Development Plans (both adopted, and in preparation)
were assessed for references to Accessible Natural Green Space and the summary of their provisions has been made
available to our staff. Similarly, a briefing on accessible natural green space for staff involved with Local Service
Boards has been prepared. These actions will help us to encourage local authorities to either improve their policy
provision on green space provision or to implement that provision effectively.
What’s the picture?*:
We now have a draft ‘Volunteering with NRW Policy Statement’, and staff guide in development.
What has been done so far to improve?
We now have a much better picture of directly managed volunteer numbers and staff involved and we are working to
improve data collection. We now have a draft ‘Volunteering with NRW Policy Statement’, and staff guide in
development
`
What will be done next to improve?
We will be developing the Cyfoeth volunteering scheme having agreed the principles of the Cyfoeth umbrella scheme
last year. The woodlands and you scheme will be taken forward by operations on a Wales wide basis supported by
Knowledge Strategy and Planning along with National Services. This will include addressing the recommendations
from Internal Audit. Audit Risk and Assurance Committee will retain oversight of the internal audit report response.
What’s the picture?*:
The current figure that can be reported stands at 789 educational settings supported. This activity is predominantly
delivered/facilitated by the Education, Learning and Sector Skills Team. It includes: single visits, Work Experience
Placements, Teacher Training, recorded self-led visits and Fishing with Schools Initiative
What has been done so far to improve?
Education and Skills Enabling Plan completed. Education, Learning and Sector Skills webpage and intranet page
(webpages have been temporaily taken down). Leadership support for the development of the Cyfoeth Placement
scheme elements. Inclusion of MSc and PhD records within this report
What will be done next to improve?
Implementation of the Enabling Plan. Implementation of the Cyfoeth Placement scheme elements. Central booking
system for all direct delivery highlighted via Managers Monthly Guide and intranet. Investiage the development of a
common NRW coding system for recording of our social programmes (if supported by the business)
What’s the picture?*:
Using the World Health Organisation’s Health Economic Assessment Tool an Economic Assessment of the Health
Benefits of Walking on the Wales Coast Path was carried out in 2013/14. The report was issued in November 2014. In
summary the findings were: The economic value of the health benefits of walking on the path is £18.3m per year with
£3.5m of benefit per year directly attributed to the existence of the Wales Coast Path.
What has been done so far to improve?:
A new contract has been let to undertake face to face surveys and an assessment of the economic impact to be
completed by November 2015. As part of the above work a Wales Coast Path User Survey is being carried out during
2014-15. These are due to be completed by November 2015.
What will be done next to improve?:
The evaluation of the 2014-15 data and a comparative evaluation of data from the same type of survey carried out in
2011-13 will then be undertaken. The final report is due by end of March 2016.
What’s the picture?*:
We are not yet in a position to establish the current position. The data to support reporting against this indicator
potentially comes from a number of sources: Value of our contracts awarded to provide services / deliver goods on
land we own or manage (e.g. franchises; mountain bike trail providers, café and catering providers), and numbers of
jobs created and supported and trainees/apprentices recruited. Advice is needed on the development of a standard
jobs created calculation (e.g. one Full Time Equivalent is equivalent to £X GVA, numbers of, and revenue generated
by, commercial and social enterprises through Woodlands and You events, activities and projects, numbers of social
enterprises supported by Woodlands and You. However, data collection process are not yet developed sufficiently to
provide clear numbers and figures. We are working with operational teams to support improved recording and
reporting
What has been done so far to improve?:
We are running a regional pilot in south Wales to bring currently unmanaged woodlands into management by working
with social and small local enterprises, using the Woodlands and You scheme as the application and assessment
mechanism, building and extending on the Wisewoods Wales work in Ceredigion
What will be done next to improve?:
We are working on our sustainable procurement strategy and will be able to report on the social and economic
outcomes of contracts awarded. We are working to improve data collected through Mynediad. We are now
commencing the GIS module roll-out across Wales that will enable us to set a baseline.
Programme Director: Tim Jones
Programme Budget: £50m (including 428FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... Good for People
What Good looks like: people are safe and enjoy and benefit from our natural resources and understand their relevance in our day to day lives
Business measures
(This shows progress towards selected Good for People mesures from our Business Plan 2014-2015)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In Summary:
- Recreation and Access, Communities and Regeneration, plus Education Strategies have been approved and are ready for implementation in 2015/16
- Launched our Tree Cover in Wales’ Towns and Cities study at the Climate Change Commission for Wales and started the production of county specific reports
- We have developed our new approach to partnership funding
- Flood and Coastal Risk Management Asset condition continues to improve and we met our target of 99%
- We have increased the level of protection against flooding for 467 properties
- We achieved a 16.5% reduction in serious incidents over the previous year.
- We have exceeded our target to raise people's awareness of their flood risk (18,884 at March 2015, against a 10,000 target)
Detail is provided below for measures where:
 an important target has been achieved during this reporting period
 there is an issue that we believe to be worthwhile discussing (e.g. if our position against a target is not where we expected it to be, or the trend, or likely future performance, gives us cause for concern)
 a detailed measure update has been requested by the Board for this reporting period
Good for People
+
[P] We develop our Education Strategy to involve
learning in, and about, the natural environment, plus
linking to the curriculum and wider learning
opportunities
Period 1
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
Amber
Amber
-
Amber
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
[P] We work with others to improve local
environmental quality, including for disadvantaged
communities
Green
Amber
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
Approved at February Board Meeting
The draft Strategy Paper, Results Based Accounting document and Action Plan table were approved at the February Board meeting.
There were delays to their final production as a result of gathering additional information that it was felt would enhance the full suite of
papers and be able to evidence and monitor this work, going forward
The target is amber due to the delay in bringing the strategy to the Board whilst additional information was gathered. We will commence
implementation in 2015/16
-
Amber
Develop and launch programme working with others, linking with
priorities of other stakeholders
Volunteering Programme drafted. Communities
& Regeneration Enabling Plan approved
- Contributed to the development of the Cyfoeth scheme, which will include our volunteering programme
- Volunteering Programme drafted. Developed our Communities and Regeneration Enabling Plan – approved by the Board in March 2015
- Undertaken a baseline survey of numbers and roles of volunteers directly managed by our staff
- Secured resources for and completed the development of the Good for People GIS Toolkit - a spatial targeting methodology to inform the
focus and delivery of NRW’s social programmes.
- Launched our world’s first Tree Cover in Wales’ Towns and Cities study at the Climate Change Commission for Wales meeting in
September and started the production of county specific reports
- Secured resources for, established a partnership and undertaken an i-Tree survey of the urban forest in the Tawe catchment to assess
the ecosystem services of urban trees in the NRM Trial Area. The findings will contribute to the overall NRM trial catchment datasets and
inform future decision making, and will demonstrate the significant ecosystem services that trees provide.
- Established a similar network and carried out an i-Tree Eco study in Bridgend County Borough’s urban areas.
- Disseminate and support delivery of the Communities and Regeneration Enabling Plan
- Support development of the Cyfoeth scheme, and NRW’s volunteering policy and programme within it
- Support development and delivery of the NRW-wide extension of the Woodlands and You scheme - Mynediad
- Deliver training and briefing sessions on the Good for People GIS Toolkit and support its use by the business
- Work with the partnerships and Forest research to produce and disseminate i-Tree Eco reports for both the Tawe Catchment and
Bridgend County Borough, ensuring that the results inform the NRM pilots and developing Area Plans
- Develop county specific canopy cover reports, using data from the all-Wales survey
- Continue to explore options for completing the all-Wales Access to Natural Green space data set
Green
-
Green
Recreation and Access Strategy and Action Plan published
Recreation and Access Strategy and Action
Plan published
[P] We implement initiatives for Welsh Government
(Green Flag, Wales Coast Path, Rights of Way
Improvement, Fly-tipping Action Wales and the waste
data systems)
Amber
Amber
-
Amber
All (five) initiatives are implemented
Four green, one amber (amber: waste data
systems programme)
-
[P] [I] We develop the new approach to Partnership
Funding
+
We maintain high risk flood and coastal risk
management assets, prioritising our efforts on
those which counter the highest risks
[P] We deliver our Flood and Coastal Risk
Management Capital Programme
-
Green
Approach operational from April 2015
Approach operational from April 2015
Amber
Amber
-
Green
Assets at target condition (99% for high risk)
Assets at target condition (99% for high risk)
Green
Green
-
Green
10,000 additional people have taken action to prepare for flood risk
18,884 additional people have taken action to
prepare for flood risk
Engagement within identified high risk areas continues and two community flood plans have been completed and three communities have
been signed off.
We led an article in the British Horse Society magazine to give practical advice tailored to horse, livery and stable (business) owners on
how to protect their horses and livelihoods’ in the event of a flood.
We have discussed producing materials for Older People around flooding with Older People Co-ordinators.
Wales Young Farmers have also shared our webpages and messages within their monthly newsletter, encouraging members to check
their flood risk. We continue to work with Dangerpoint safety centre and support the work they do to educate children and transient
populations
We formally launched our Flood Awareness Wales Lead Facebook page.
What are we doing next:
We will work within 24 high risk communities across Wales to increase awareness and preparedness for flooding and will continue to work
with 14 communities until they can be signed off as completed.
We plan to strengthen our Flood Plan Lead (FPL) Volunteer network across Wales.
We will look into emotional and psychological health support available in Wales for those who have experienced flooding.
Green
Amber
What are we doing next:
Amber
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
Programme Director: Tim Jones
There was steady improvement through the year when compared with the baseline figure at the start of the reporting year. A combination
of reviewing the asset data and asset repairs brought a fall in the number of failing assets from 105 at the start of the year to 44 at the end
of March 2015, a reduction of 58%. South East Area followed South West in reaching the target of 99% passing, while North Area made
good progress towards the 99% target in recent months. When combining all three areas together, the overall the target of 99% was
achieved.
Teams will continue to get regular updates in the coming months on failing assets that require repair. The systems and policies that we
have in place will be evaluated in the coming year. This will include addressing the legacy strategies, policies and procedures we currently
use in managing our assets. This will ensure that they are suitable and appropriate in Wales and will help us to focus our efforts on those
assets that are of highest flood risk importance.
Current achievement:
Current achievement:
[P] [R] We reduce the number of serious incidents, per
sector, using a prioritised risk based approach
Judges training has been undertaken for the Green Flag Awards and judges have been allocated to sites which have applied for Awards.
We have established a new contract for face to face surveys and economic assessment of the Wales Coast Path. Transition
arrangements for the management for the path will start in April with longer term developments implemented during 2015/16.
We have agreed with Welsh Government to continue delivery of the waste data project in 2015/16.
Green
What are we doing next:
We raise people’s awareness of their flood risk
and what actions they need to take
We have published the findings of the Health Economic Assessment Tool for the Wales Coast Path.
Rights of Way Improvement Plan Funding Programme offer letters for 2014/15 were issued to local authorities, output reports data from
2013/14 collated and reports finalised and shared with stakeholders
Local Authorities within the Flymapper trial have recorded over five thousand fly tipping incidents during 2014/15 giving a spatial
representation of the hotspots.
Twncarmel Merthyr, multi-agency approach to clear persistent Fly Tipping problem has resulted in clearance preventative measures
installed and the land has been donated to the community to be developed as a community resource
We have developed IT/data systems to ensure waste data and quality meets Welsh Government requirements.
In developing waste flow evidence for problematic waste a significant amount of crosschecking of data has been undertaken to assess
where issues lie. The waste flow tool was developed and trialled and the tool finalised.
Green
Current achievement:
+
Deliver final draft Strategy to the Board in November 2014
Green
What are we doing next:
+
Current achievement
[P] We develop and deliver our Recreation and Access
Strategy
Current achievement:
+
Target
-
Amber
500 properties
[note: ~73,000 properties benefit from flood defences]
467 properties
We have increased the level of protection for 467 properties as well as providing over 150 properties with property level protection.
Schemes have been completed at Swansea Vale, Penclawdd, Rhymney Tidal Embankment and Mwldan Weir.
Next year we will be delivering schemes at Risca, Dolgellau, Isca Road, Newton and Ffordd Isa with over 600 properties benefitting from a
reduced risk of flooding. We will also be continuing with the development of future schemes at Roath, Crindau, Portland Grounds and
Tabbs Gout.
-
Green
Reduce the number of serious incidents, per incident sector, year
on year
16.5% (115 to 96) reduction in serious incidents
from 2013/14 to 2014/15
Total substantiated (following attendance) Category1/2 incidents for year 2013/14 was 115
Total substantiated (following attendance) Category 1/2 incidents for year 2014/15 was 96 a reduction of 16.5%
Work to establish the baseline patterns for premises type, pollutant and cause for all significant and major incidents across Wales has
been completed for the year 2013/14. Incident data for the year 2014/15 is now being analysed against this baseline data.
The baseline data and that for incidents to November in 2014/15 has been shared with Strategic and Operations Incident Management
Groups. This data for the year 2014/15 is now being compared to the baseline data and again will be used to highlight any trends and
inform risk registers, policies, campaigns and, where necessary, to identify if further effort needs to be targeted at specific sectors.
Programme Budget: £50m (including 428FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... Good for Business
What does “good” look like: a 'location of choice' for business and enterpriseand a place where best practice environmentalmanagement is adpoted and
encouraged
Corporate indicators
(This shows the status of the Good for Business indicators from our Corporate Plan 2014-2017)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
Good for Business - In summary:
- We have improved our position in responding to planning applications during the year achieving the required 90% within time during the final four months of the reporting year. Our overall performance for the year was 81%
- We met our target to issue 90% of permit applications within the determination period
- We are aware of 59 illegal waste sites in Wales. We have introduced a focused Waste and Industry Team and the ‘once in Wales' Enforcement department from April 2015.
- We met our gross income target of £16m for the year, achieving £17.7m
What’s the picture?*:
Target has been met
What partners share
accountability for achieving
"Good for Business?”
What has been done so far to improve?:
Continue to submit cases for staff replacements. Identify where teams are under resourced and need additional staff.
Identify where internal consultation is not responding within set timescales. Introduced new way of working for
hydropower applications to streamline the determination process.
What will be done next to improve?
Use process evaluation to streamline permitting regimes with specific focus on internal consultation.
What’s the picture?*:
There has been an increase in the number of waste sites. Waste sites are put in compliance bands A-F with F being
the poorest performing. Wales has 46 permitted waste sites in compliance bands D, E or F (poor performers) for 2013.
The bulk of the poor performing sites (36) are within the waste treatment sector, with 21 of these in the non-hazardous
waste sub-sector.
What has been done so far to improve?
An improving compliance group has been set up as a sub-group of Regulatory Business Board. The group has
delivered two detailed reports on Permitted Waste Site Compliance and review of waste fires to look at the reasons
behind the poor performing D, E and F sites and root causes of waste fires at permitted sites.
Training has been delivered to regulatory officers to improve knowledge and confidence of assessing compliance at
permitted waste sites.A joint workshop with Welsh Government has been help to agree challenges and identify
solutions (Policy/ legislative/ operational)
What will be done next to improve?
Actions have been identified and will be implemented
Each of us in Wales, including:
 None identified for this grouping
Third Sector, including:
 None identified for this grouping
Private Sector, including:
 Companies
 Operators
 Permit Applicants
Public Sector, including:
 Local Authorities
 PINS
 MMO (Marine Management
What other data do we need to
see if "Good for Business” is
being delivered?
 Nothing currently identified
What’s the picture?*:
At the end of 14-15 NRW was aware of 59 illegal waste sites in Wales
What has been done so far to improve?
The introduction of the focused Waste and Industry reg teams in Operations across Wales
What will be done next to improve?
The ‘once in Wales' Enforcement department from April 2015.
What’s the picture?:
We achieved the target in the final reporting period largely by giving particular attention to response times. The
improvements to our approach, guidance and processes that we implement during 2015 will help us turn this into a
sustainable improvement and start to focus on the effectiveness of our advice in 2015/16. Please note that casework
data for Mid Wales are included in the data for South Operations Region and that the difference between consultations
received and responses submitted reflects in part (i) those applications which have been sent by the LPAs but do not
meet our agreed criteria for comment, and (ii) work in progress.
What has been done so far to improve?
Timeliness: The ‘build’ phase in developing the new ICT system is underway and due to complete in the Summer; We
published our Service Statement on our website and shared it with key customers. The Statement clarifies what our
customers can expect from us, and what we expect from them to enable us provide a timely and evidence-based
response; We revised our instruction to staff on what to comment on when we are consulted. This fine tunes our risk
based approach, and will help us to target our advice in a consistent way. We have shared this with Planning Officers
Society Wales (POSW), Welsh Government, and Local Planning Authorities; We have improved our timeliness by
improving focus on response times and will be able to make this a sustainable improvement as we complete the full
suite of improvements to our processes and approaches. The transition to medium/ longer term sustainable ways of
working: We brought all the staff working in the NRW planning service across Wales together for a 2 day event to set
the context for the new NRW service, communicate our strategic objectives for our planning advice, embed culture
change, hear from external customers and raise awareness of new internal instruction and guidance that is being rolledout to support the delivery of this service; We held trainings sessions for 60 staff on the Development Consent Order
process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) and our role within this Nationally Significant
Infrastructure regime; We have rolled-out new internal guidance to support the planning service e.g. NSIP Quick Guide,
Call-in guidance, and a guide on NRW’s approach on how climate change implications should be considered for
development proposals within areas of high flood risk.
What will be done next to improve?
We will: Work with WG to inform the implementation of the provisions of the Planning (Wales) Bill which relate to the
role of statutory consultees; Progress operational guidance for identified priority subject-areas, including standard
advice for developments of lower risk to bats and landscape considerations for small and single wind turbines; and
Implement the new ICT system, and test; Develop a training programme to further embed culture change in our
planning service; Continue to meet with national and local stakeholders to seek feedback on our planning service, and
inform our future measures for further improvement; Develop options for charging for non-statutory advice to support
the resources required to provide this service; Put in place a mid-Wales planning advice team.
What’s the picture?*:
The income figure is £17.7m.
What has been done so far to improve?
N/A
Be - Generating Income
What will be done next to improve?
Now the new finance system is in place we will review the breakdown of the overall figure, to ensure all commercial
income is included in 2015/16
*What’s the picture? (i.e. what does the current state of this indicator tell us?)
Programme Director: Trefor Owen
Programme Budget: £34m (including 388FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... Good for Business
What does “good” look like: a 'location of choice' for business and enterpriseand a place where best practice environmentalmanagement is adpoted and
encouraged
Business measures
(This shows progress towards selected Good for Business measures from our Business Plan 2014-2015)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In Summary:
- We published our 2015/16 Charging Scheme on our website on the 2nd April following a public consulation, and obtaining Board and Ministerial approvals
- We have determined 90% of permits, licences and consent to timescale (statutory or voluntary determination period)
- We have drafted an action plan for the development of the NRW Permitting Service for delivery in 2015/16 onwards
- We are facilitating commercial opportunities for: renewables, mobile infrastructure, holidays, gas and timber
- We are supporting six wind and five hydropower energy developments
- We have put to market 869,166m3 over bark standing of timber (including 267,000m3 larch)
Detail is provided below for measures where:
 an important target has been achieved during this reporting period
 there is an issue that we believe to be worthwhile discussing (e.g. if our position against a target is not where we expected it to be, or the trend, or likely future performance, gives us cause for concern)
 a detailed measure update has been requested by the Board for this reporting period
Good for Business
+
[P] We develop our regulatory systems to
streamline the service we provide for customers
Period 1
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
Green
Green
-
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
We determine permits, licences and consents
meeting the statutory determination or service
level agreement period timescale
Amber
Amber
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
We develop a single permitting, licensing and
consenting service, based on common standards and
processes
Green
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
+
[P] [I] We facilitate new business opportunities,
including renewable energy generation, as well as
recreation and tourism opportunities
[P] We support the wind energy programme and
deliver our hydropower programme on land that
we manage
Green
Green
Target
Current achievement
Review charging schemes
2015/16 Charging Scheme published on our
website (2nd April)
We submitted a paper to February’s NRW’s Board meeting detailing the consultation responses we received and gained their approval of
our final Charging Scheme proposals.
We gained Ministerial approval for our 2015/16 Charging Scheme in March.
We published our Charging Scheme Consultation Response on our website at the end of March.
We published our 2015/16 Charging Scheme on our website on the 2nd April.
We are now beginning the work programme to deliver our 2016/18 Charging Scheme.
↑
Green
90% determined to timescale (statutory determination or service
level agreement period)
90% determined to timescale (statutory or
voluntary determination period)
We have continued with monthly reporting and analysis of performance across a range of individual regimes to identify under performance.
Where this is identified then measures have been taken to attempt to correct the issue. We have agreed a workforce plan for the service as
a way of addressing the current level of turnover, replacing vacated posts quickly with people with the right skills. This has meant that we
are having to put forward recruitment requirements regularly and on occasion to recruit externally.
We continue to work with Operations colleagues to ensure that they understand the impact on this target, so that the internal consultations
for permit applications are returned within required timescales.
-
Green
Plan and test in preparation for implementation in 2016/17
We have drafted an action plan for the
development of the Permitting Service for
delivery in 2015/16 onwards
We have drafted an action plan for the development of the NRW Permitting Service for delivery in 2015/16 onwards. In addition we have
commenced work on a number of areas including: We have begun developing a single identity as the NRW Permitting Service
We have developed a single set of Priorities, Principle and Values.
We have commissioned work to examine opportunities for efficiencies, streamlining of permitting processes. This will form part of the
Transformation Programme - Improving efficiency and service delivery.
We have made some organisation changes with the Spp, SSSI and Woodland Regulation administration teams reporting to a single Team
Leader.
Work to examine opportunities for efficiencies, streamlining of permitting processes will form part of the Transformation Programme Improving efficiency and service delivery.
-
Green
Report new commercial activities taking place on our managed
estate
Reported new commercial activities taking place
on our managed estate
Current achievement:
• Overall the Wind Energy Programme is progressing in line with Developers plans with three of the six Projects in the Development Phase
and actual Option Fee income for FY14/15 was £5.7m. We met with the Crown Estates and toured Pen y Cymoedd looking at potential
energy project synergies between the two organisations. We are also pursuing the Energy Park Concept at Pen y Cymoedd. We continue
to deal with Developer requests for access which cover wind, solar and unconventional gas energy developments.
• Discussions are taking place to assess the possibilities of establishing a small scale wind turbine programme with the potential to expand
into other renewables where possible.
• The Small Scale Hydro Programme has met its target of five schemes enabled.
• We have identified potential biomass supply from mid Wales and will now work to market this.
• We have provided Welsh Government with a submission setting out the opportunities that the Green Growth Fund might be able to help
realise.
• Negotiation are continuing surrounding the development of Forest Holidays and Camping in the Forest at Beddgelert, Garwnant and Coed
y Brenin.
• We are currently in discussion over the potential to repeat the woodland creation and carbon capture project on a second site.
• We continue to work closely with Welsh Government and DCMS to roll out the Mobile Infrastructure Project to provide coverage to ‘notspot’ rural areas.
• It has been an extremely buoyant year for Timber sales and this has enabled the published Timber sale open market volumes to be fully
met. We have increased our customer base this year, and our sales of “niche” products including the potential supply of cedar for shed and
garden product manufacture.
• The filming unit promotion has commenced with the establishment of a bespoke email address
• We have met with Sport Wales and have agreed a plan to work in tandem over the Tryweren Centre.
What are we doing next:
• The first five Field Sports parcels are being prepared for tender and investigations into the remaining potential for NRW managed land are
ongoing.
• We will review our visitor centres to ensure they realise enterprise and income generating opportunities that are appropriate to site
'• Our Enterprise and Business Transformation Programme has been established and will be tasked with building an enterprise culture,
prioritising opportunities and freeing up resources to deliver enterprising projects.
Green
Green
Current achievement:
-
Green
Wind: Progressing 4 schemes
Hydropower: 5 schemes constructed
Wind: Progressing 6 schemes
Hydropower: 5 schemes enabled
Wind: Wind Energy Programme is progressing in line with Developers plans with three of the six Projects in the Development Phase
Hydro: We have enabled five schemes to be constructed by March 15. One is constructed and operational, two are under construction and
two are awaiting commencement of construction.
What are we doing next:
+
We market timber from the Welsh Government
woodland estate in accordance with our marketing
strategy
Green
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
Programme continues in 2015/16
-
Green
Market 878,000m3 over bark standing (including 332,000m3 larch)
Marketed 869,166m3 over bark standing
(including 267,000m3 larch)
We have held all our open market sales and offered the volumes of timber that we advertised to our customers in Feb 2014. The balance
of our volume has been offered through our suite of long term contracts.
Our commitment has been fully met, although we have not as yet signed the last long term contract for larch and have fallen short by
65,000 on this measure. However the larch volume has been brought forward in other species and the overall sales plan commitment has
been met.
Continue to market at the same sort of levels to achieve our 2015/16 budgeted targets
We will continue to try to conclude the final long term contract if we are unsuccessful in the next 23 months then the volume will be
reoffered to the market.
Programme Director: Trefor Owen
Programme Budget: £34m (including 388FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... Good Organisation
What does “good” look like: Well led and managed. With suitably skilled and experienced staff and effective underpinning systems and processes transparent in our decision making and continuously improving our service to customer and partners benchmarking ourselves against the very best
Corporate indicators
(This shows the status of the Good Organisation indicators from our Corporate Plan 2014-2017)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In summary:
-Customer and Stakeholder satisfaction will be developed as part of our Customer Focus Programme in 2015/16
-We conducted our first People Survey in February 2015, achieving a 58% response rate and a staff engagement indexof 48%. We are looking at how we can improve and set a target for next year.
-We have reviewed our position against benchmarks and will now be setting targets for future years.
-We remain on target to achieve the 10 year cash realisable savings through NRW's creation. Further progress will be made with the Change Programme.
-We have used ~64% of our annual carbon budget in the first nine months of the year. We are currently bringing together our final 2014/15 position.
What’s the picture?*:
The indicator is yet been developed (the baseline will be established by the first customer satisfaction survey for
regulated business that will seek views on the change in service since before NRW)
Oa- Customer and
stakeholder satisfaction
Ob - Staff Engagement Index
What has been done so far to improve?
We have committed to continuing to work to Customer Care and Service Standards.
What partners share
accountability for achieving a
“Good Organisation?”
_
Each of us in Wales, including:
 Customers of NRW
What will be done next to improve?
The Board has considered the scope of a NRW Customer Care Strategy and provided its feedback on the
development of the strategy. NRW needs to finalise its discussions concerning the development and implementation
of the NRW Customer Care Strategy.
Third Sector, including:
 Customers of NRW
What’s the picture?:
We conducted our first People Survey in February 2015, achieving a 58% response rate, which for our first survey,
was really encouraging and showed our staff engagement index to be 48%.
Public Sector, including:
 Environment Agency
 Forestry Commission
What has been done so far to improve?
We should all be focused on how we build on the good work and take action to make improvements. There are some
clear messages from the survey, which are understandable given that NRW is only two years old and the scale of
change has been huge. The results identified a number of positives: Staff are interested in their roles and enjoy
challenges, the skill levels are very good and most enjoy having the support of their Line Managers and camaraderie
of their colleagues. But there were a number of challenges to address: the pace and amount of change, crossorganisational working, leadership, clarity of our organisational objectives and purpose and the learning and
development opportunities on offer.
What will be done next to improve?
We are looking at how we can increase the staff engagement index to 58% an increase of 10% (target is to be
confirmed)
Private Sector, including:
 Customers of NRW
What other data do we need to
see if a “Good Organisation” is
being delivered?
 We need to construct and run a
customer and stakeholder
survey
 Outcome/score of next staff
engagement index
What’s the picture?:
We have presented ourselves against benchmarks for a number of support services including Finance, Procurement,
Human Resources, Information Technology, Communications, Legal Services and Accommodation, using the latest
available (2009) Cabinet Office data and guidance. With only one exception we are positioned within the benchmark
range or slightly below it. The exception is the area of office space we occupy in relation to the number of staff we
employ.
What has been done so far to improve?
We have centrally compiled the benchmarks to ensure consistency and have included additional sectors of our
business for a broader picture.
What will be done next to improve?
We will set targets for each area and programme an annual update of the benchmarks to coincide with our annual
budgeting and planning cycle. We will seek to find more recent data to benchmark against, and will additionally
consider our performance ambition. We will explore why we appear to have more office space than expected,
considering how this will be addressed by the plan contained in our Accommodation Strategy or if there is any issue
with how we are compiling our data.
What’s the picture?*:
We are on target for the cash-realisable benefit. The accumulation of savings over the 10 years remains very
sensitive to relatively small changes in the annual savings in these early years. The scenario planning shows that
although we are on target there should be emphasis on the need to maintain a strong focus on making efficiencies,
releasing money by exiting transitional services, controlling costs and making sure implement plans to deliver the
benefits. The analysis that underpins this indicator is based on information available at the end of March 2015. The
‘year end’ figures available in June will improve the forecast.
Od - Achievement of
revised business case
What has been done so far to improve?
Progress to deliver the Change Programme has created savings and includes: Exit from Environment Agency head
office non-ICT services on vesting da. Exit since vesting day from 19 transitional services provided by the
Environment Agency and Forestry Commission, worth £2.6M per annum. Business process improvements include
significant planned savings from sample collection, planning advice and permitting functions. Short term rationalisation
of offices and depots. Removing almost all staff off the Forestry Commission and Environment Agency ICT
infrastructure.
What will be done next to improve?
Further progress with the Change Programme that will set up savings, including: Further rationalisation of offices and
depots to conclude the short term programme. Continue work to exit transitional services, worth another approx. £5M
in 2015/16. Complete the second Voluntary Exit Schemewith the aim of realising further annual savings. Fully
establish the continuous improvement programme to deliver efficiencies over the next 2 years.
What’s the picture?*:
- Our baseline carbon footprint amounts to 7,699 tCO2e
- The main elements of our carbon footprint last year related to the use of vehicles we own, electricity use and the
(contracted out) use of construction aggregate. Over 5,000 tonnes of CO2e related to these three areas
- The nine month figures shown (including estimates for some elements), suggest we have used ~64% of our carbon
budget for the year
- We are currently bringing together our final 2014/15 position.
Oe - Reduced
organisational carbon
footprint
What has been done so far to improve?
We have been working to:
- Engage our staff through training, and delivering workshops to our leaders
- Reduce emissions from travel and transport by minimising UK internal flights, increasing our use of biodiesel,
reducing our fleet emissions, reducing the need for travel through increased audio/web conferencing
- Rationalise our building estate in line with our accommodation strategy
- Roll out of new IT (improving our audio/web conferencing capabilities)
- Regional EMS committees being established For 2014/15 we targeted a reduction in our travel and building energy
related carbon footprint of 5%
What will be done next to improve?
- Applying sustainability risk assessments to new contracts (over £25k)
- Engaging stakeholders and publishing our core EMS documentation
- We will continue to report on our carbon footprint internally on a quarterly basis (using estimates if necessary to do
so)
*What’s the picture? (i.e. what does the current state of this indicator tell us?)
Programme Director: Kevin Ingram
Programme Budget: £37M (including 301 FTEs) for 2014
Progress towards... Good Organisation
What does “good” look like: Well led and managed. With suitably skilled and experienced staff and effective underpinning systems and processes transparent in our decision making and continuously improving our service to customer and partners benchmarking ourselves against the very best
Business measures
(This shows progress towards selected Good Organisation mesures from our Business Plan 2014-2015)
Report dated: 7th May 2015
In Summary:
- We are now paying suppliers and collecting both regulatory and commercial income from a single system.
- Our forecast for Business Case benefits is £145m which is 9% below target, however we are still developing further efficiencies.
- There were two lost time incidents to our employees ithis year. We have developed a 3 year Wellbeing, Health & Safety (WHS) programme to improve our performance from 2015 onwards.
- We have reduced the number of properties we use with nine disposed of, and five mothballed. We now have 65 operational sites
- We have maintained ISO14001 certification following external LRQA audits. Based on our 9 month carbon footprint position, we expect to meet our 5% reduction target for this year.
Detail is provided below for measures where:
 an important target has been achieved during this reporting period
 there is an issue that we believe to be worthwhile discussing (e.g. if our position against a target is not where we expected it to be, or the trend, or likely future performance, gives us cause for concern)
 a detailed measure update has been requested by the Board for this reporting period
Good Organisation
+
[R] We provide efficient and effective business support
and customer care to both staff and customers
Period 1
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
Green
Green
↓
Amber
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
We plan and allocate resources to business
priorities and achieve performance reporting that
drives continuous improvements
Amber
Amber
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
We deliver our transition projects to help establish
our standalone capability.
Amber
Amber
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
+
+
We deliver procurement that achieves value for
money, sustainability and facilitates opportunities
for Welsh SMEs
We improve the health, safety and wellbeing of the
workforce
We deliver our accommodation strategy
Green
Green
3 out of 4 underlying measures are on target
What we have done so far: As of 1 March the first two phases of MyNRW are live which sees NRW able to raise requisitions and approve
purchase orders through workflow. We are now paying suppliers and collecting both regulatory and commercial income from a single
system. We are also producing financial and management reports for internal and external reporting.
What we are going to do next: Developments include scoping out the Project Costing & Billing module, revisions to Product Codes,
increased use of workflow and enhancing our reporting capability.
-
Amber
Achieve business case benefits relating to the creation of Natural
Resources Wales
£145M (91% complete)
A second voluntary exit scheme.
Completed the short term programme of opportunities to vacate and dispose of offices and depots.
Exited 29 of the 40 transitional services as of the end of 2014/15.
Made good progress with continuous improvement programmes that free up staff time, including halving the effort required to process
each application for hydropower permits and reaching the development planning advice service targets for responding within agreed
deadlines.
We are on target to deliver our ICT services for £6M in place of the £8M baseline cost.
Exit the remaining transitional services and aim to reduce some of the enduring services as well.
Implement the full accommodation strategy to complete the reduction from 80 sites to 40 sites.
The portfolio of transformation programmes, including a much larger range of LEAN process improvement projects as part of the
continuous improvement programme.
↑
Green
Transition Projects to schedule
All projects are on schedule
. 24 Workstreams – in excess of 104 projects
- All of our key objectives within the projects and programmes to create our standalone capability have been delivered, m any of these
represent an outstanding achievement
- Some slippage in more complex areas:
- Service exits - 43 EA services down to 17 at end of 2015/16 year, 17 FCGB services down to 5 at end of 2015/16 year
- 1600 ICT applications/systems down to 400 at end of March 2015
- Benefits
- Achieved/forecast - £145m [£129m cash releasing, £16m non cash] so far compared to £158m business case target
Handover of Transition projects - All Transition areas identified continuing work requirements. ICT application transition/transformation –
further 63 projects. Service exits – further 9 this year , business as usual work, continued by a Transformation Portfolio
-
Green
Deliver procurement strategy and 'quick win' targets
Procurement strategy, and 'quick wins
delivered'
What are we doing next:
Development:
- Focusing on the delivery of community benefits through contracting, and reporting on the outcomes delivered to include the Civil
Engineering Framework Agreement (CEFA) pilot.
- Develop an e-procurement strategy and technology plan which will scope a project to encompass the Investigation of available options to
maximise the use of e-Procurement capability and to satisfy upcoming legislative requirements (by engaging with the WG e-Procurement
Infrastructure Programme).
Engagement:
- Develop plans to increase opportunities for Welsh SMEs to compete for NRW contracts ensuring our procurement practices are
appropriate for SME’s and larger scale enterprises and establish and measure contract opportunities made available to SME’s
Efficiency/Value for Money:
- Identify opportunities for benefits and efficiencies taking a lead role in identifying and measuring opportunities for benefits and
efficiencies.
Procurement Governance:
- Review the impact of the changes to the procurement process via the 2015 Amendment to EU Procurement Directives, implement the
new directives and accommodate any applicable changes or obligations.
- Measure and report on the percentage of influenceable spend channelled through a compliant route (target 100%).
- Develop a first stage Procurement Assurance Model
Red
Green
-
Green
Number of lost time incidents suffered by employees
Two lost time incidents suffered by employees
Amber
Amber
-
Amber
Reduce number of sites to 64
We have reduced to 65 operational sites (9
disposed, 5 mothballed and being disposed).
Amber
Green
Current achievement:
What are we doing next:
Programme Director: Kevin Ingram
All (four) underlying measures are on target
- Developed NRW Procurement Strategy to 2017 (input provided by Executive Team in February 2015).
- We have undertaken a considerable amount of work on the Civil Engineering Framework Agreement (CEFA), which will be in place later
this year. As part of this we are instigating a pilot on the use of community benefits. A series of supplier engagement events for this
Framework have already been undertaken in conjunction with Business Wales.
- Quick wins continue to be developed within our Welsh Government Procurement Maturity Model Improvement Plan.
- We have secured early adopter status with WG for use of the E-procurement maturity model and benefits tracker following us arranging
for WG to present to FCS Leadership Team (who subsequently agreed to proceed). We have in place a technology action plan that will
evolve over FY15/16.
- Undertaken and completed the Procurement Team Change Programme
- Baselined “NRW procurement” by applying the WG Procurement Maturity Model, and are continuing to implement the subsequent
improvement plan as well as developing a number of procurement KPI’s. Value Wales have agreed to undertake an independent progress
review in 2015/16. Details of the improvement plan to which we refer are outlined in Section 4.3 of the Procurement Strategy.
- We regularly attend Directorate Leadership Team Meetings to consult on our improvement plan, and to better understand Directorate
requirements (for the short, medium and long term. We have developed a Procurement Pipeline (Contract Forward Plans) to help
Directorates to secure best value for money, and to provide greater visibility of opportunities for the supply base (including Welsh SME’s)
- We are the Welsh Government Sponsored Bodies’ Sector representative on the National Procurement Service Delivery Group, and we
continue to explore potential options with NPS across the range of their categories.
- We have established a Governance Plan for procurement, detailing the project milestones for the rewrite and implementation of new
thresholds, templates, rules and procedures for procurement across the whole of NRW.
What are we doing next:
We maintain ISO14001 accreditation for our
environmental management and work towards being
an exemplar in areas such as carbon use, waste and
Current achievement
Current achievement:
Current achievement:
+
Target
We have sold Three Cocks Depot (Brecon), Frobisher Road Depot (Newport), and Merlin’s Bridge Depot (Haverfordwest).)
We have vacated and disposed of Beechwood House (Llandeilo), Unit 3 Cantref Court (Abergavenny), Glan Y Nant (Mold), Drake Walk
(Cardiff), Chirk Depot, and Granada Park (Llangattock). We have vacated and mothballed Llanion House (Haverfordwest), Plas Penrhos
(Bangor), Mawddach Hatchery (Dolgellau), Maerdy Hatchery (Corwen) and the Ceinws site (Corris). We are working closely with the
Estates Team to secure the disposal of these sites. As a result of these actions, we have generated capital receipts of £236K and we are
making annual savings of £360K on our building running costs.
The Business Case for the Llanelli Laboratory project has been completed and will be presented to ET for their approval in mid-April 2015.
Significant progress has been made on the Mid-Wales options appraisal. The preliminary feasibility study has been completed and the
Project Board is now in place.
Sublet Ynysybwl tractor shed. Progress to the implementation phase of the Llanelli Laboratory project.
Complete the options appraisal for Mid-Wales by August 2015.
Complete options appraisals for four regional ‘hubs’ (South West, South East, North West and North East) by September 2015. There a
number of rationalisation projects that had been identified as ‘quick wins’ but are on hold because of local concerns about the degree to
which the project would require changes to legacy ways of working.
-
Green
ISO14001 accreditation maintained
Carbon footprint reduced by 5%
Maintained certification following external LRQA
audits. Carbon footprint (9 month report)
indicates 5% reduction is on track
We have maintained ISO14001 certification following external LRQA audits in September 2014 & March 2015.
In 2014/15 - 33 nonconformities of legal and other compliance obligations were raised, these have now been corrected and actions taken
to prevent reoccurrence.
30% of NRW staff have received specific targeted EMS awareness, pollution incident and waste training.
7 of 8 directorate leadership teams have received EMS training.
9 month emissions report indicates we are on track to meet our 5% carbon reduction target.
We are going to integrate forestry operations within the scope of the EMS in 2015/16. Site visits at WSO, civils and WHaM sites are
already scheduled.
We will ensure all staff receive EMS awareness training.
Programme Budget: £37M (including 301 FTEs) for 2014
Business Plan Dashboard
2014/15 report: 1st April 2014 - 31st March 2015
This dashboard reflects progress against measures and indicators from our wider performance framework. It is used to provide a single page, 'at a glance', summary of performance in key areas.
We track performance for the items on this dashboard, and also review performance three times a year with at open public sessions with our Board (in October, February and May).
Good Knowledge
Period 1
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
Target
Actual achievement
[P] [I] We develop Wales’ approach to integrated natural resource management
Amber
Amber
↑
Green
Report learning from three integrated natural resource
management trials (Dyfi, Rhondda, Tawe) to Welsh
Government by March 2015.
[P] [I] We work with Welsh Government to develop funding mechanisms to support
integrated natural resource management
Green
Green
-
Green
Funding round launched (August 2014)
Funded projects agreed (March 2015)
Funding round launched (August 2014)
Funded projects agreed (March 2015)
[P] We work with Welsh Government to develop natural resources policy, including delivery
of a State of Natural Resources report
Amber
Amber
↑
Green
Develop interim report by November 2014
(first full report September 2016)
Interim report has now been developed
Green
Review and implement our monitoring, analysis and reporting
programme
Project governance has been finalised
Communications strategy signed off October 2014.
Rolling reports on technical advice provided
Communications strategy signed off October 2014.
Rolling reports on technical advice provided
We review our monitoring strategy and apply recommendations to our operational work
Amber
-
Green
We assess our abilities so that we are able to effectively engage with the public and share
our technical advice and expertise with others or seek support where required
Green
Green
-
Green
Communications strategy signed off October 2014. Operate
rolling customer insight programme
We develop our ability to better explain and communicate complex issues to a wide range
of stakeholders
Green
Green
-
Green
Communications strategy signed off and Rolling customer
insight programme providing reports
A Good Environment
We will now report learning from the trials to support
scrutiny of the Environment Bill
Period 1
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
We ensure the sustainable management of land and water we manage
Amber
Amber
↑
Green
Actions resolved arising from NNR and WGWE audit.
Maintain UKWAS accreditation
Actions resolved and UKWAS accreditation
maintained
[P] We work with others to improve connectivity and restoration of priority habitats
and their linkages as part of integrated natural resource management plans
Green
Green
-
Green
Complete Level 2 Connectivity mapping by December 2014
Level 2 mapping first draft completed for all habitats
We ensure climate change adaptation is embedded in all areas of our work
Green
Green
-
Green
Apply parts 1 & 2 of Welsh Government Climate Change
Adaptation Guidance to our organisation by March 2015
Parts 1 & 2 of Welsh Government Climate Change
Adaptation Guidance applied
[P] We will play our part and work with others to halt biodiversity loss in order to help ensure
that, by 2020, ecosystems are more resilient
Green
Green
↓
Red
80% of our actions underway or complete
63% actions underway/complete from July work plan
We will develop our approach to pollinators
N/A
Green
↓
Amber
Implement a programme of measures on NRW sites by 31
March 2015
We continue to manage NNRs for a range of wild
pollinating species, improve the habitat value of the
Public Forest Estate
[P] The condition of features on sites improves
(i.e. Indicator Ee: Marine, terrestrial and freshwater environment)
Red
Red
-
Red
Condition of features of marine, terrestrial and freshwater
Natura 2000 sites
33% of marine, 24% of terrestrial, and 26% of
freshwater features are in favourable condition
Indicator
Indicator
-
R/A/G - N/A
Complance with good status under the Water Framework
Directive
We manage outbreaks of plant health pests and diseases
Green
Green
-
Green
Implement control plans on the Welsh Government Woodland
Estate
Compliance with good status under the Water
Framework Directive = 37%
Helicopter surveillance for P ramorum completed. 60
sites found to be positive and notices have been
served on 417ha
[I] We consider streamlined innovative approaches
Amber
Green
-
Green
Develop and support approaches that demonstrate innovation,
collaboration and best practice
Approaches being supported including Greener
Grangetown
We ensure accurate information on flood risk is available to the public and
stakeholders
Green
Green
-
Green
Publish flood maps (in quarter one), capital and maintenance
programmes (in quarter two)
Published flood maps (in quarter one), capital and
maintenance programmes (in quarter two)
[P] The water environment improves (i.e. Indicator Ea: Water environment)
Good for People
Target
Actual achievement
Period 2
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
[P] We develop our Education Strategy to involve learning in, and about, the natural
environment, plus linking to the curriculum and wider learning opportunities
Amber
Amber
-
Amber
Deliver final draft Strategy to the Board in November 2014
Approved at February Board Meeting
[P] We work with others to improve local environmental quality, including for
disadvantaged communities
Green
Amber
-
Amber
Develop and launch programme working with others, linking
with priorities of other stakeholders
Volunteering Programme drafted. Communities &
Regeneration Enabling Plan approved
[P] We develop and deliver our Access and Recreation Strategy along with our Marketing
Framework
Green
Green
-
Green
Recreation and Access Strategy and Action Plan published
Recreation and Access Strategy and Action Plan
published
[P] We implement initiatives for Welsh Government (Green Flag, Wales Coast Path, Rights
of Way Improvement, Fly-tipping Action Wales and the waste data systems)
Amber
Amber
-
Amber
All (five) initiatives are implemented
Four green, one amber (amber: waste data systems
programme)
Target
Actual achievement
[P] [I] We develop the new approach to Partnership Funding
Green
Green
-
Green
Approach operational from April 2015
Approach operational from April 2015
We maintain high risk flood and coastal risk management assets, prioritising our
efforts on those which counter the highest risks
Amber
Amber
-
Green
Assets at target condition (99% for high risk)
Assets at target condition (99% for high risk)
We raise people’s awareness of their flood risk and what actions they need to take
Green
Green
-
Green
10,000 additional people have taken action to prepare for flood 18,884 additional people have taken action to
risk
prepare for flood risk
[P] We deliver our Flood and Coastal Risk Management Capital Programme
Green
Amber
-
Amber
500 properties
[note: ~73,000 properties benefit from flood defences]
467 properties
Reduce the number of serious incidents, per incident sector,
year on year
16.5% (115 to 96) reduction in serious incidents
from 2013/14 to 2014/15
[P] [R] We reduce the number of serious incidents, per sector, using a prioritised risk based
approach
Good for Business
[P] We develop our regulatory systems to streamline the service we provide for
customers
Amber
Green
-
Green
Period 2
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
Target
Actual achievement
Green
Green
-
Green
Review charging schemes
2015/16 Charging Scheme published on our website
(2nd April)
Red
Red
↑
Amber
Respond to 90% consultations within agreed timescale
Responded to 81% consultations (annual average)
within agreed timescale
We determine permits, licences and consents meeting the statutory determination or
service level agreement period timescale
Amber
Amber
↑
Green
90% determined to timescale (statutory determination or
service level agreement period)
90% determined to timescale (statutory or voluntary
determination period)
We develop a single permitting, licensing and consenting service, based on common
standards and processes
Green
Green
-
Green
Plan and test in preparation for implementation in 2016/17
[P] [I] We facilitate new business opportunities, including renewable energy
generation, as well as recreation and tourism opportunities
Green
Green
-
Green
[P] We support the wind energy programme and deliver our hydropower programme
on land that we manage
Green
Green
-
Green
Wind: Progressing 4 schemes
Hydropower: 5 schemes constructed
Wind: Progressing 6 schemes
Hydropower: 5 schemes enabled
We market timber from the Welsh Government woodland estate in accordance with
our marketing strategy
Green
Green
-
Green
Market 878,000m3 over bark standing (including 332,000m3
larch)
Marketed 869,166m3 over bark standing (including
267,000m3 larch)
We generate income from our enterprise activities
(i.e. Indicator Be: Generating income)
Green
Green
-
Green
£16m
£17.7m
Period 2
Period 2
Trend
Period 3
[R] We provide efficient and effective business support and customer care to both staff and
customers
Green
Green
↓
Amber
All (four) underlying measures are on target
3 out of 4 underlying measures are on target
We plan and allocate resources to business priorities and achieve performance
reporting that drives continuous improvements
Amber
Amber
-
Amber
Achieve business case benefits relating to the creation of
Natural Resources Wales
£145M (91% complete)
We deliver our transition projects to help establish our standalone capability
Amber
Amber
↑
Green
Transition Projects to schedule
All projects are on schedule
We deliver procurement that achieves value for money, sustainability and facilitates
opportunities for Welsh SMEs
Green
Green
-
Green
Deliver procurement strategy and 'quick win' targets
Procurement strategy, and 'quick wins delivered'
Red
Green
-
Green
Number of lost time incidents suffered by employees
Two lost time incidents suffered by employees
We deliver our accommodation strategy
Amber
Amber
-
Amber
Reduce number of sites to 64
We have reduced to 65 operational sites (9
disposed, 5 mothballed and being disposed).
We maintain ISO14001 accreditation for our environmental management and work towards
being an exemplar in areas such as carbon use, waste and water
Amber
Green
-
Green
ISO14001 accreditation maintained
Carbon footprint reduced by 5%
Maintained certification following external LRQA
audits. Carbon footprint (9 month report) indicates
5% reduction is on track
Indicator
Indicator
-
R/A/G - N/A
7 (out of 10)
Staff survey completed in early 2015 giving a
baseline engagement index of 48% which will
provide scope for improvement in 2015/16
We fulfil our role as statutory consultee in responding to planning consultations
(i.e. Indicator Bd: Our role as statutory consultee)
Good Organisaton
We improve the health, safety and wellbeing of the workforce
We all have confidence in our collective success
(i.e. Indicator Ob: Staff engagement index)
We have drafted an action plan for the development
of the Permitting Service for delivery in 2015/16
onwards
Report new commercial activities taking place on our managed Reported new commercial activities taking place on
estate
our managed estate
Target
This dashboard is one part of our Performance Framework. 40 items (35 measures and 5 indicators) are included on this dashboard
[Formatted as A3 portrait. If printed, does not need to be printed in colour]
Key:
trend columns:
↑
↓
status columns:
font styles:
Red
A flat line indicates no significant change since with the last assessment
A down arrow indicates a decline since with the last assessment
This indicates we are not where we planned we should be
Amber
This indicates we are nearly on target (within 10%)
Green
This indicates we are on target
Bold
underline
Italic
tags:
An up arrow indicates an improvement since the last assessment
Ministerial priority
Related to an area of Corporate Risk
[R]
Reputation related measures
[P]
[I]
Partnership working related measures
Innovation related measures
Actual achievement