Target Condition Grades

William Felt made this Freedom of Information request to Environment Agency

The request was refused by Environment Agency.

From: William Felt

25 February 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Could you please tell me how many, and what length of assets on the
National Flood and Coastal Defence Database (NFCDD) have had their
target condition changed.

Yours faithfully,

William Felt

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From: Enquiries, Unit
Environment Agency

25 February 2009

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From: Enquiries, Unit
Environment Agency

27 February 2009

Dear William

Thank you for your enquiry regarding our NFCDD Database.

Your email has been forwarded to our National Request Team and they will
contact you shortly. The customer charter for completing National
Requests is 20 working days. Should you wish to contact them in the
meantime, you can call them on 08708 506506, or by email at
[email address].

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From: National Requests
Environment Agency

27 February 2009

Dear William

Thank you for your request for NFCDD data, reference number NR10294.

We are treating your enquiry as a National Request and it will be dealt with by our National Request Team.

Please can you let you give me more information on what you require. What do you mean by
length of assets?

Please can yo let me know what time frame you requie the data.

Unless the data requested is immediately accessible to us, there is likely to be a cost involved. This will be based upon staff costs calculated at our Standard Charging for Information charge rate of £25 per hour. Information regarding our charging structure can be found on the link below:

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The Environment Agency's customer charter, is to provide you with the requested information within 20 working days from the date your enquiry is received.

Should you have any queries regarding this request in the meantime please contact us at: [email address]

Regards

National Request Team
National Customer Contact Centre
Tel 08708 506 506

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From: William Felt

27 February 2009

Dear "National Requests",

You asked: "What do you mean by length of assets?"

To clarify:
I would like to know the total number, and total linear length, of
all those NFCDD assets (as recorded in NFCDD), which have had their
target condition changed.

Yours sincerely,

William Felt

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From: National Requests
Environment Agency

19 March 2009

Dear Mr Felt,

Please find below a response to your request for information about Flood
Defence Assets, this has come from a technical specialist in our Asset
System Management team:

We use actual and target condition grades from NFCDD to measure the
performance of flood defences. The actual condition of individual assets
is updated as part of a routine inspection programme; target condition is
reviewed as new science becomes available and following the experience
gained in flood events. The most recent review of target condition took
place 12 months ago, and was the first such review since 2005 when targets
were first set for individual assets.

The data is stored on NFCDD where any changes to target condition simply
over-write the previous entry, i.e. NFCDD doesn't store the change history
for target condition, and we do not keep back copies of NFCDD to allow
historic data to be extracted. We can't therefore provide the data you're
after.

We are aware of the limitations of NFCDD - clearly pointed out in reviews
by the NAO, the Public Accounts Committee and the Pitt Committee looking
at the 2007 summer floods - and are progressively addressing the issues
raised. This includes an IT programme for asset management; where the
outputs will include improved data structures and a new IT solution
providing, amongst other things, better reporting functionality.

I trust that you will find this information useful. If you have any
further queries please let us know and we will be happy to help.

Kind Regards

Cicely Heaviside

The Environment Agency

National Request Team

National Customer Contact Centre

(08708 506506)

How did we do?

How would you rate the service you've received from us?

Let us know by completing our online customer survey. The survey is
anonymous and can be accessed via the following link and will only take a
few minutes:

[1]https://www.questback.com/theenvironment...

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally
privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify
the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else.

We have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should
still check any attachment before opening it.

We may have to make this message and any reply to it public if asked to
under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act or for
litigation. Email messages and attachments sent to or from any
Environment Agency address may also be accessed by someone other than the
sender or recipient, for business purposes.

If we have sent you information and you wish to use it please read our
terms and conditions which you can get by calling us on 08708 506 506.
Find out more about the Environment Agency at
[2]www.environment-agency.gov.uk

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From: William Felt

19 March 2009

Dear Cicely & National Requests,

So, just to clarify, what you're saying is that you are actively
changing the target condition grades for flood defences - but that
you aren't keeping any record of what you're changing.

Does the Environment Agency acknowledge that reporting any
improvements in achieving the targets are therefore meaningless,
since you have no way of telling what proportion of those
improvements are a direct result of changing the target, as opposed
to actually doing the maintenance or refurbishment required.

I find it somewhat incredible that you are not keeping a record of
what the target condition grades are, nor the history of actual
condition grades. Is it not possible to run a report from NCFDD
that would provide this information - or is it merely that the
Environment Agency is not interested in how much the measuring
stick is being altered?

Yours sincerely,

William Felt

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From: National Requests
Environment Agency

24 March 2009

Dear Mr Felt,

Thank you for your comments in response to the reply we sent you to your
request NR10294.

I have passed these onto the Asset System Management team and they have
replied as below:

I want to make the following points in response to your email:

1. NFCDD does hold change history for actual condition, but not target
condition for the reason previously described.

2. The performance of flood defences is based on a precautionary
approach and is evolving as we learn more about the actual performance of
flood defences. In response to the 2007 summer floods and the outputs from
new research we reviewed and revised target condition in early 2008 - the
first and only national review of target condition since 2005 when targets
were first set for individual assets.

3. The review allows us to manage flood defences more cost-effectively
by tailoring maintenance and refurbishment activities to the actual risks
present.

4. We are well aware of the reporting limitations of NFCDD and regard the
current position as unsatisfactory - as does the NAO, the Public Accounts
Committee, etc - and are actively progressing a solution, as I've
previously explained.

I trust that you will find this information useful. If you have any
further queries please let us know and we will be happy to help.

Kind Regards

Cicely Heaviside

The Environment Agency

National Customer Contact Centre - National Requests Team

(08708 506506)

How did we do?

How would you rate the service you've received from us?

Let us know by completing our online customer survey. The survey is
anonymous and can be accessed via the following link and will only take a
few minutes:

[1]https://www.questback.com/theenvironment...

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