House of Commons - Measuring well-being and sustainable development: Sustainable Development Indicators

Measuring well-being and sustainable development: Sustainable Development Indicators - Environmental Audit Committee Contents

3 The proposed SDIs

23. The proposed SDIs group 37 Indicators under the three pillars of sustainable development—economy, society and environment (Figure 2). Defra's consultation document concluded that the current set of SDIs, comprising of 68 indicators, made it "difficult to arrive at a summary of overall progress towards sustainable development", which "streamlining" of the indicator set would help address. The document highlighted "a clear international trend towards a focus on high priority indicators, and a number of other countries and international institutions (including the European Commission) are following this approach".[35] The European Commission's set of SDIs, which are published by Eurostat every two years, comprise more than 100 indicators but 11 of them have been identified as 'headline indicators' (Figure 3).

24. Streamlining inevitably means that some of the Government's existing SDIs do not feature in the proposed new set. In particular, the consultation document noted, "given the parallel development of the National Well-being measures, we propose that it is no longer necessary to include all of those measures relating to current well-being".[36] Figure 1 shows which of the current SDIs would be carried over into the new set, and Figure 2 shows which of new SDIs would replicate existing measures.

25. In the consultation process, we were told, contributors had highlighted particular indicators that had been dropped, primarily on transport and youth unemployment.[37] For most discontinued measures, however, there would be in the new set either a higher-level indicator which subsumed a similar metric or there would be a similar measure included within the National Well-being indicators.[38]

26. Nigel Atkinson told us that the consultation responses which had been reviewed so far pointed to general agreement on the indicators selected:

there does seem to be a very high measure of agreement on the issues that have been selected for the headline set, and on the indicators we have chosen for measuring those. Inevitably, the indicators have a lower satisfaction than the issue itself, but are still very high. However, there is very little appetite for substituting any of the headline measures for any of the supplementary measures.[39]

27. There is good reason to rationalise the SDIs, as proposed, not only to help refocus on the core aspects of sustainable development but to help find an accommodation with the parallel development of National Well-being measures. Defra's consultation on the SDIs, and most of the submissions to our inquiry, were positive about the way this was being done.

28. A lack of targets (paragraph 42) and the need to more fully address inequalities (paragraph 37) had been two areas particularly highlighted in the consultation responses.[40] During our oral evidence session we explored these issues, along with the rationale for some of the specific indicators under each of the three sustainable development pillars, as we discuss below.

Economy SDIs

29. The four 'Economy' Headline Indicators include GDP, long-term unemployment, poverty and knowledge & skills.[41]

30. Some of the new 'Economy' Supplementary Indicators are described as 'contextual' indicators (for example total population and total households). Rather than measuring 'progress' in their own right, they allow changes on other indicators to be put in context. In the same way, the new 'economic prosperity' headline indicator includes 'GDP per head', and the new 'natural resource use' indicator compares consumption with GDP growth. But other indicators—emissions, waste, land-use and R&D expenditure—are not set against any similar baseline.

31. The National Well-being initiative seeks to present indicators to supplement rather than replace GDP, and that was the emphasis also in the Rio+20 Summit conclusions document.[42] Nevertheless, some written submissions to our inquiry questioned whether GDP should be an SDI,[43] particularly in view of the intention of the SDIs to capture 'inter-generational', rather than 'current', well-being.[44]

32. GDP clearly is a factor in current well-being. Its relevance for long-term, inter-generational, well-being is doubtful, although when juxtaposed with other SDIs it could help monitor the extent to which growth in the country is being decoupled from finite resource consumption—the foundation for sustainable development.

33. We discussed in our evidence session the rationale for the 'Public sector net debt as a percentage of GDP' Supplementary Indicator. This was included in the indicator set because "it has potential impact on future generations".[45] However, such an indicator does not distinguish between debt which funds investment to improve the lot of future generations and debt which helps pay for current consumption. The indicator has no target or threshold for determining when the level of debt becomes inter-generationally unsustainable. There is of course already a measure of the sustainability of Government debt—the interest rate on government bond issues—although that assesses a predominantly economic view of sustainability. Surprisingly, Defra told us that it compiled the draft SDIs without any discussion with the Treasury about whether the level of debt, rather than say Government borrowing costs, was a satisfactory indicator of sustainability.[46] The proposed debt SDI should be replaced with an indicator which reflects the extent to which public sector debt will be a burden rather than a boon for the next generation. Bond rates could provide an economic view of the sustainability of a country's debt. A measure which might reflect social and environmental purposes behind borrowing should be investigated.

Society SDIs

34. The four 'Society' Headline Indicators include life-expectancy, social capital, social mobility, and housing provision.

35. The 'housing provision' indicator measures net additions to the housing stock each year. On its own, this does not appear to be an appropriate indicator of sustainable development, given the consumption of resources in house-building and the potential loss of land that might otherwise provide environmental benefits. And, from a Society pillar perspective, it takes no account of the number of households unable to find housing. Defra acknowledged that this was "a measure of supply, not demand".[47] Nigel Atkinson explained that creating a measure of demand would not have been straightforward because at the moment peoples' purchasing power to buy or rent is not being reflected in market transactions: "The problem is measuring the extent of demand that is not being met given the current prices, mortgage availability, rents, and so on." Instead, however, Defra envisaged analysis of housing provision being done alongside supplementary data on household projections which would provide "the closest thing we have to a measure of demand".[48]

36. New 'social capital' indicators are still to be identified. Because of the difficulty in defining it, social capital has previously been represented by proxy measures or a combination of several measures. It would be difficult to identify a single headline measure that would be sufficiently representative.[49] Defra plans to select measures from the forthcoming Community Life Survey to be run by the Cabinet Office. These might include, 'sense of belonging', 'trusting neighbours', 'neighbourliness', 'volunteering and other community participation', 'influencing local decisions', 'feeling safe' and 'mixing socially'.[50] Some of these indicators were previously measured in the Audit Commission's local surveys which have now been discontinued.

37. Some of the new indicators address inequality, at least to some extent,[51] including the 'social mobility' indicator which measures the proportion of people who have jobs in 'higher-level occupations' than their parents'. Two of our submissions, however, regretted the dropping of the current SDI on 'environmental equality' which specifically addressed equality.[52] Defra told us that data for the previous 'environmental equality' measure would now be difficult to produce because some data sources had been discontinued.[53] Most of the now proposed SDIs are expressed as averages, rather than as a range of values[54] which might help identify inequalities for people affected by those measures. The SDIs consultation document noted that "whilst it is not practicable to present all the indicators in the headline or supplementary set in terms of inequalities, where practicable links to data that disaggregate the indicators will be made available".[55]

38. Equality is at the heart of the Society pillar of sustainable development, but it is not given sufficient coverage in the proposed SDIs to provide a basis for policy-making to narrow inequalities. Defra should reconsider its proposal to drop the environmental equality SDI, and explain in its analysis of the responses to the consultation how it will source the data for this indicator. It should also review each of the other proposed SDIs to see how they might measure the range values for how they affect people's lives, not just the average.

Environment SDIs

39. The four 'Environment' Headline Indicators include greenhouse gas emissions, natural resource use, biodiversity and water availability. We examined in particular the 'natural resource use' SDI, which would compare consumption of metal ores, minerals, biomass, timber and fossil fuels against GDP growth. The bringing together in this Indicator of metal ores and minerals, which are finite resources, and biomass and timber, which can be sustainable crops is unhelpful. The inclusion also of fossil fuels consumption gives a false impression that we need to preserve this resource, like other resources, for future generations to use. If the overriding aim of its inclusion is to highlight fossil fuel consumption and thereby encourage emissions reduction, that is misplaced because it is already addressed in the separate emissions reduction indicator.

40. The 'natural resource use' indicator should comprise all finite non-fossil fuel resource usage, thus excluding biomass, timber and fossil fuels, but including aggregates usage (which is in the current SDIs).

41. We discussed with our Government witnesses the risk that the proposed 'natural resource use' Indicator could fail to capture the impact of resources consumed in the goods we import. Our concern was that as a country we could score well on this indicator simply as a result of our continuing transition to a service-sector rather than an industrial economy. We received assurances however that the indicator would seek to measure the natural resource usage on a net UK consumption basis, taking account of the total mass of resources needed to produce imported goods or services.[56] In that respect it mirrors the consumption-basis for one of the proposed new emissions SDIs. We welcome this not least because it reflects an acceptance of our recommendation for accounting for emissions on the basis of UK consumption (rather than production) in our October 2011 report on carbon budgets.[57]

Targets

42. Defra told us that a lack of targets in the proposed SDIs was a main theme of the consultation responses they had so far examined.[58] The consultation document envisages continuing the previous practice of using traffic-light colours—red, amber, green—to identify "the general direction of travel" of each indicator.[59] WWF, New Economics Foundation and RSPB highlighted a need for hard targets instead, linked where appropriate to existing national and international obligations or Government commitments, including on air quality, emissions and renewables.[60] There was a concern that an improving performance on an SDI would be flagged as 'green' even if the outcome were still a long way below the required end-state.[61] David Halpern of the Behavioural Insights Team on the other hand argued that, even without targets, the trend on individual SDIs could still help shape policy debate.[62]

43. Like the previous set, none of the new SDIs include targets. Defra explained that there were no targets because:

the SDI framework is not a target setting framework, and the SDIs do not themselves introduce new targets. In our approach to this, we have reflected the Government's approach to transparency and accountability, so the guiding principle area is not, for the most part, accountability through a centrally designed system of targets and processes but rather to focus on being open and transparent with the data ... .[63]

Nevertheless, some SDIs would continue the recent innovation of being included and reported on in relevant departments' business plans[64] (for example emissions in DECC's business plan and biodiversity (farmland bird numbers) in Defra's plan).[65]

44. In our January 2011 report on embedding sustainable development, we had noted that the value of the existing SDIs had been questioned because in some cases there had been no link between the measures and the policies which might influence performance.[66]The lesson for the current revision of the SDIs is that the process of considering and setting targets could help link the indicators to policy agendas more closely. The use of traffic-light assessments of the 'direction of travel' on indicators provides no insight to whether the UK is achieving, or falling short, on the sustainability implicit in those indicators.

45. We recommend that Defra should apply existing commitments as targets for the corresponding SDIs, including those on air quality, emissions and renewable energy. It should also review the scope for setting targets on the other SDIs, consulting again those who have recently raised this issue with the department.

Next steps

46. At the time of the SDIs consultation, there was still a large number of proposed Indicators which still needing to be developed:

'Poverty' (an 'Economy' Headline Indicator).

'Social Capital' (a 'Society' Headline Indicator).

'Water availability' (an 'Environment' Headline Indicator).

'Climate change adaptation' (an 'Economy' Supplementary Indicator).

'Lifestyles' (a 'Society' Supplementary Indicator).

'Noise' (a 'Society' Supplementary Indicator).

'Land-use and development' (an 'Environment' Supplementary Indicator).

'River water quality' (an 'Environment' Supplementary Indicator).

'Status of species and habitats' (an 'Environment' Supplementary Indicator).

'UK biodiversity impacts overseas' (an 'Environment' Supplementary Indicator).

47. Beyond taking account of the contributions to the SDIs consultation exercise, Defra has work to do to finalise the Indicators still under development, and then to accommodate the ongoing work of the UN Statistical Commission (paragraph 2) tasked at the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit with developing well-being indicators (paragraph 31) and the multi-national panels investigation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[67] The linkage between these SDGs and the UK's SDIs was an area we had hoped to discuss with the Deputy Prime Minister, who led the UK delegation at the Rio+20 Summit in June, and it is regrettable that five months later we are still awaiting an opportunity for such a meeting.

48. The current set of SDIs is designated as National Statistics, and thus prepared under the Government Statistical Service code of practice, which has the benefit of providing assurance on the reliability and integrity of the results.[68]

49. We recommend that Defra should produce a full set of SDIs when it presents the results of its recent consultation exercise, including those indicators which were identified as still under development in July. It should plan now to provide the designated resources necessary to ensure that there is no delay in finalising those outstanding indicators and establishing the necessary data sources. It should also confirm that the new set of SDIs will be designated as National Statistics, fully subject to the quality controls that that implies.
Figure 1: Existing SDIs, ordered according to whether carried over into the new SDIs

Existing SDI Description Carried into new SDIs?

1. Greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas and CO₂ emissions, and emissions associated with UK consumption Yes

2. Carbon dioxide emissions by end user CO₂ emissions from industry, domestic, transport sectors (excluding international aviation and shipping) Yes

4. Renewable energy Renewable electricity generated as a percentage of total electricity Yes

13. Resource use Domestic Material Consumption and Gross Domestic Product Yes

15. Water resource use Total abstractions from non-tidal surface and ground water, leakage losses and Gross Domestic Product Yes

18. Waste Waste: (a) arisings by sector (b) arisings by disposal Yes

20. Bird Populations Bird population indices (a) farmland birds (b) woodland birds (c) coastal birds (d) wintering wetland birds Yes

24. Land use (contextual) Area covered by agriculture, woodland, water or river, urban (contextual indicator) Yes

25. Land recycling (a) New dwellings built on previously developed land or through conversions (b) all new development on previously developed land Yes

27. Fish stocks Sustainability of fish stocks around the UK Yes

29. Emissions of air pollutants NH3, NOx, PM10and SO2emissions and GDP Yes

30. River quality Rivers of good (a) biological (b) chemical quality Yes

32. Economic output (contextual) Gross Domestic Product Yes

33. Productivity (contextual) UK output per worker Yes

35. Demography (contextual) Population and population of working age (contextual indicator) Yes

36. Households and dwellings (contextual) Households, single person households and dwelling stock (contextual indicator) Yes

46. Pension provision Proportion of working age people contributing to a non-state pension in at least three years out of the last four Yes

50. Healthy life expectancy Healthy life expectancy (a) men and (b) women Yes

53. Childhood obesity Prevalence of obesity in 2-10 year-olds Yes

61. Air quality and health (a) Annual levels of particles and ozone (b) days when air pollution is moderate or higher Yes

63. Households living in fuel poverty Households living in fuel poverty containing (a) pensioners (b) children (c) disabled/long-term sick Yes

5. Electricity generation Electricity generated, CO2, NOx and SO2 emissions by electricity generators and GDP No
[But emissions also covered in new Air Quality indicator.]

7. Road transport CO2, NOx, PM10 emissions and Gross Domestic Product No
[But emissions also covered in new Air Quality indicator.]

14. Energy supply UK indigenous energy production and gross inland energy consumption No

16. Domestic water consumption Litres per person per day No

19: Household waste per person (a) Arisings (b) recycled or composted No
[New indicator only measures waste to landfill.]

22. Agriculture sector Fertiliser input, farmland bird population, ammonia and methane emissions and output No

23. Farming and environmental stewardship Land covered by environmental schemes No

28. Ecological impacts of air pollution Area of sensitive UK habitats exceeding critical loads for acidification and eutrophication No

31. Flooding Number of properties in areas at risk of flooding No

34. Investment (contextual) (a) Total investment (b) Social investment relative to GDP No

38. Crime Crime survey and recorded crime for (a) vehicles (b) domestic burglary (c) robbery No

39. Fear of crime Fear of crime: (a) car theft (b) burglary (c) physical attack No

40. Employment People of working age in employment No
[But Long Term Unemployment a new indicator.]

41. Workless households Population living in workless households (a) children (b) working age No

42. Economically inactive Percentage of people of working age who are economically inactive No

44. Young adults 16-19 year-olds not in employment, education or training No

47.Education 19 year-olds with Level 2 qualifications and above No

48. Sustainable development education To be developed to monitor the impact of formal learning on knowledge and awareness of sustainable development No

49. Health inequality (a) Infant mortality: differences between socio-economic groups (b) Life expectancy: differences in average life expectancy between local authority areas No
[But Avoidable Mortality in new indicators.]

55. Mobility (a) Number of trips per person by mode (b) Distance travelled per person per year by broad trip purpose No

56. Getting to school How children get to school No

57. Accessibility Access to key services No

58. Road accidents Number of people and children killed or seriously injured No

62. Housing conditions (a) Social sector homes (b) vulnerable households in the private sector in homes below the decent homes standard No

64. Homelessness (a) Number of rough sleepers (b) number of households in temporary accommodation (i) total (ii) households with children No

67. UK international assistance Net Official Development Assistance (a) per cent of Gross National Income (b) per capita No

68. Wellbeing Wellbeing measures No
[But in ONS Well-being indicators]

3. Aviation and shipping emissions Greenhouse gases from UK-based international aviation and shipping fuel bunkers Maybe
[Depends whether will be in DECC-defined 'sectors'.]

6. Household energy use Domestic CO2 emissions, domestic energy consumption and household spending Maybe
[Depends whether will be in DECC-defined 'sectors'.]

8. Private cars Private car CO2 emissions, car-kilometres and household spending Maybe
[Depends whether will be in DECC-defined 'sectors'.]

9. Road freight Heavy Goods Vehicle CO2 emissions, kilometres, tonnes and Gross Domestic Product Maybe
[Depends whether will be in DECC-defined 'sectors'.]

10. Manufacturing sector Manufacturing sector CO2, NOx, SO2, PM10 emissions and output Maybe
[Depends whether will be in DECC-defined 'sectors'.]

11. Service sector Service sector CO2, NOx emissions and output Maybe
[Depends whether will be in DECC-defined 'sectors'.]

12. Public sector Public sector CO2, NOx emissions and output Maybe
[Depends whether will be in DECC-defined 'sectors'.]

17. Water stress Impacts of water shortages Maybe
[Possible measures may include water stress.]

21. Biodiversity conservation (a) Priority species status (b) priority habitat status Maybe
[Depends whether Status of Species and Habitats will include conservation.]

26. Dwelling density Average density of new housing Maybe
[Depends on DCLG measure of Housing Provision.]

37. Active community participation Informal and formal volunteering at least once a month in the last 12 months Maybe
[Depends whether included in measures for social capital.]

43. Childhood poverty Children in relative low-income households (a) before housing costs (b) after housing costs Maybe
[Depends whether included in Poverty indicator.]

45. Pensioner poverty Pensioners in relative low-income households (a) before housing costs (b) after housing costs Maybe
[Depends whether included in Poverty indicator.]

51. Mortality rates Death rates from (a) circulatory disease and (b) cancer, below 75 years and for areas with the worst health and deprivation indicators, and (c) suicides Maybe
[Depends on Avoidable Mortality indicators.]

52. Smoking Prevalence of smoking (a) all adults (b) 'routine and manual' socio-economic groups Maybe
[Depends whether in Lifestyles indicator.]

54. Diet Proportion of people consuming (a) five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day and (b) in low income households Maybe
[Depends whether in Lifestyles indicator.]

59. Social Justice Social measures to be developed Maybe
[Depends whether included in measures for Social Capital.]

60. Environmental equality Populations living in areas with, in relative terms, the least favourable environmental conditions Maybe
[Depends whether in Lifestyles indicator.]

65. Local environment quality Assessment of local environmental quality Maybe
[Depends whether in Lifestyles indicator.]

66. Satisfaction in local area Percentage of households satisfied with the quality of the places in which they live (a) overall (b) in deprived areas Maybe
[Depends whether in Lifestyles indicator.]

Figure 2: Proposed new SDIs (HI = headline indicators, SI = supplementary indicators)

Theme SDI measures Existing or new?

Economy Economic prosperity (HI) GDP Existing indicator

GDP per head Existing indicator

Equivalised median household income before housing costs New

Long term unemployment (HI) Percentage people out of work for more than 12mths New
[Was people of working age in employment.]

Poverty (HI) to be identified taking into account the Social Mobility Strategy, the Child Poverty Strategy and the ONS measures of national wellbeing. New
[Existing indicators are for child poverty and pensioner poverty.]

Knowledge and skills (HI) The value of knowledge and skills (as a proxy for human capital) per person of working age New

Population demographics - total population (SI) Total and working age populations Existing indicator

Population demographics - households (SI) Housing projections Unsure

Debt (SI) Public sector net debt as a percentage of GDP New

Pension provision (SI) Membership of occupational pension schemes Existing
[Was any non-state pension.]

Physical infrastructure (SI) Physical capital stock as measured by total tangible assets New

Climate change adaptation (SI) [to be identified] New

Research and development (SI) Expenditure on research & development by UK businesses in cash and real terms & environmental protection expenditure research and development spending. New

Environmental goods & services sector (SI) Sales of low carbon and environmental goods and services New

Society Healthy life expectancy (HI) Healthy life expectancy Existing indicator

Social capital (HI) [to be identified] New

Social mobility in adulthood (HI) Proportion of working-age population employed in higher-level occupations by social background (defined using father's occupational group) New

Housing provision (HI) Net additions to the housing stock (new dwellings). Existing indicator
[Was previously accompanied by number of households, and number of single-person households.]

Avoidable mortality (SI) Mortality from sources considered avoidable Existing indicator
[Now broader.]

Obesity (SI) Incidence of being overweight or obese in both children and adults. Existing indicator
[Now includes adults not just children.]

Lifestyles (SI) [to be identified] New

Infant health (SI) Incidence of low birth weights New

Air quality (SI) Days when air pollution is moderate or higher Existing indicator

Noise (SI) Percentage of population affected by noise (to be developed). New

Fuel poverty (SI) Number of households in fuel poverty in England. Existing indicator

Environment GHG emissions (HI) GHG generated within the UK Existing indicator

GHG from UK consumption Existing indicator

Natural resource use (HI) Raw material consumption in non-construction sectors and GDP - experimental data. Existing indicator

Wildlife and biodiversity (HI) Bird population indices - farmland birds, woodland birds, seabirds and water & wetland birds. Existing indicator

Water availability (HI) To be identified, but illustrated by water resource availability assessed in river catchment abstraction management Existing indicator [Previously water resource use and water stress.]

UK CO2 emissions by sector (SI) Carbon dioxide emissions by sector Existing indicator

Energy consumed in the UK from renewables (SI) Renewable energy consumption as a percentage of capped gross final energy consumption Existing indicator

Housing energy efficiency (SI) Energy efficiency ratings of existing and new housing New

Waste (SI) Total UK waste from all sectors (including households) disposed of in landfill sites. Existing indicator

Land use and development (SI) To be developed using land use change and stock Existing indicator

Origins of food consumed in the UK (SI) The origins of food consumed in the UK based on farm gate value of unprocessed food, 2010 New

River water quality (SI) To be identified, but likely to cover rivers of good quality Existing indicator

Fish stocks (SI) Fish stocks harvested sustainably and at full reproductive capacity Existing indicator

Status of species and habitats (SI) Indicator to be developed on status of priority species and habitats New

UK biodiversity impacts overseas (SI) To be confirmed - based on a current research project on the global biodiversity impacts of UK consumption of imported goods. New

Figure 3: EU headline indicators

Themes: EU 'Headline SDIs':

1. Socio-economic development Growth rate of real GDP per capita

2. Sustainable consumption and production Resource productivity

3. Social inclusion People at risk of poverty or social exclusion

4. Demographic changes Employment rate of older workers

5. Public health Healthy life years and life expectancy at birth, by sex

6. Climate change and energy GHG emissions
Share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption

7. Sustainable transport Energy consumption of transport relative to GDP

8. Natural resources Common bird index
Fish catches taken from stocks outside safe biological limits: status of fish stocks managed by the EU in the North East Atlantic

9. Global partnership Official Development Assistance as share of Gross National Income

10. Good governance No headline indicator

Figure 4: The Measuring National Well-being indicators (July 2012)

Domains Measures

Individual well-being Percentage with medium/high rating of satisfaction with their lives overall

Percentage with medium/high rating of how worthwhile the things they do are

Percentage who rated their happiness yesterday as medium/high

Percentage who rated their how anxious they were yesterday as low or very low

Our relationships Average rating of satisfaction with family life

Percentage who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with their social life

Percentage who said they had someone they could really count on in a crisis

Health Healthy life expectancy at birth

Percentage who reported a disability and a work limiting disability

Percentage who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with their health

Percentage with some evidence indicating probable psychological disturbance or mental ill health.

What we do Unemployment rate

Percentage who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with their job

Percentage who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with their amount of leisure time

Percentage who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with their use of leisure time

Percentage who volunteered in the last 12 months

Where we live Crimes against the person (per 1,000 adults)

Percentage who felt very or fairly safe walking alone after dark

Percentage who accessed green spaces at least once a week in England

Percentage who agreed or agreed strongly that they felt they belong to their neighbourhood

Personal finance Percentage of individuals living in households with less than 60 per cent of median income after housing costs

Mean wealth per household, including pension wealth

Percentage who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with the income of their household

Percentage who report finding it quite or very difficult to get by financially

Education and skills Human capital - the value of individuals' qualifications in the labour market

Percentage with five or more GCSE grades A*-C including English and Maths

Percentage of the working age population with no qualifications

The economy Real household income per head

Net National Income of the UK

UK Net National debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product

Consumer Price Inflation index

Governance Involvement in democracy and trust in how the country is run

Percentage of registered voters who voted

Percentage of those who have trust in national Parliament

Percentage of those who have trust in national Government

The natural environment Total green house gas emissions (millions of tonnes)

Air pollutants: PM10 (000's tonnes)

The extent of protected areas in the UK

Energy consumed within the UK from renewable sources