SCCD Year 4 reporting

1

SCCD Year 4 reporting

Review of leadership, governance, partnership and area-wide action

Phil MatthewsPartner

CAG Consultants

2SCCD Year 4 review: SSN Quarterly

Introduction

• CAG reviewed sections 1 (Governance), 3 (Area Emissions) and 5 (Partnership Working)

• Analysis done using a standard template – based on PBD Guidance and RPP

• CAG also working with SSN to consider ways of enhancing future reporting

• Looking to highlight good practice and also provide commentary on the variations in current reporting


Governance, Leadership and Management

Reviewed against 6 criteria:•Provide clear, consistent and comparable information•Link climate change reporting with existing reporting requirements and the Councils own performance improvement agenda•Show clearly how climate change is being integrated into council and Community Planning agendas, especially through Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs)•Highlight key achievements and initiatives•Demonstrate how local authorities are assessing impact and influence•Show how the council is communicating with the community - reports should be easy to understand and available to the public


Clear, consistent and comparable information

• All reports apart from Fife (which prepared a detailed ‘carbon report’) were in line with the template and guidance

• Significant variation in the level and presentation of information, particularly for area emissions

• Some councils provide detail on specific work, others more general statements

• Need for greater use of data and evidence


Link climate change reporting with other reporting

• Not clear from many reports whether the LA has a climate strategy or what reporting arrangement are

• Limited reporting on targets• Mixed level of detail on governance

structures• Some councils have senior

officials/Members involved in climate change

• Focus of some, particularly smaller authorities, on corporate action

• Public Bodies Duties do appear to be driving a refresh of governance in a number of authorities


Integration with Community Planning and SOA

• Most provide some information on CPP and SOA

• Detail on reporting structures in many, a few less clear

• Only very few report on progress against CPP indicators and targets – Perth and Kinross a good example

• Again Public Bodies Duties noted as a driver for action


Highlight key achievements

• Many examples of good practice contained in the reports:– Green economy – Borders and Orkney

– Carbon management – Fife

– Strategic framework – Sustainable Edinburgh 2020

– Area indicators and reporting – Perth and Kinross

– Procurement – South Ayrshire

– Engagement – Stirling

– Collaborative working – Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network


Assessing impact and influence

• Only a few provide a detailed framework for action at the community level

• Financial and Carbon Reporting – very limited – Fife only council to provide detail

• Many refer to e.g. renewable energy developments that are not related to local authority action

• Limited reference to use of appraisal tools or SEA/Sustainability Appraisal


Communicating with the community

• Some reports more accessible to the public than others

• Good use of diagrams and visual information in a few

• Many LAs engaging with staff, particularly around CMP

• Community wide engagement less evident. Often based around Climate Challenge Fund

• Many examples of stakeholder engagement


Area emissions

• Most LAs provide data on production emissions (DECC), far fewer on consumption

• Many provide trend data and sectoral data

• Reporting of action on specific sectors (e.g. Energy, Waste, Transport) more limited

• Behaviour change – Climate Challenge Fund, also Eco-schools


Area emissions

• Energy – some good practice e.g. Aberdeen CHP, Argyll and Bute Energy Action Plan

• Homes and Communities – most focus on UHIS etc, otherwise limited

• Business and Public Sector – CPP working

• Transport – not widely addressed, no mention on negative impactsLand use – some areas such as Argyll and Bute huge sink potential

• Waste – in general only reporting against requirements


Recommendations

• A more detailed reporting template would be helpful to local authorities and in analysing progress

• Particularly useful would be:– To note whether a LA has a climate

strategy and if so what it covers

– To provide clear guidance on what trend data on area emissions is expected

– To ask specifically for information on procurement and behaviour change

– To provide information under all 6 headings for area emissions, as in RPP


Contact

Phil MatthewsCAG Consultants

94 Orchard Brae AvenueEdinburgh EH4 2GB

[email protected] www.cagconsultants.co.uk

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.cagconsultants.co.uk/

SCCD Year 4 reporting

Documents

Transcript of SCCD Year 4 reporting