12/01 - February

Dear Colleague

Review of Estates Management Statistics (EMS) record

A review of the Estates Management Statistics (EMS) record for implementation 2012/13 is currently underway. It is the first review since HESA took on responsibility for the collection of EMS from 2009/10. At this time it was agreed with AUDE and the funding bodies that no substantive changes would be made to the content of the collection during the first two years that HESA collects the data (2009/10 and 2010/11). Subsequently it was agreed that a review would be postponed for one further year in order that HESA had completed a cycle of data collection before commencing the review.

The review commenced in June 2011 and a Review Group of funding body representatives, institutional representatives (with expertise covering a number of estates areas about which data is returned) and members of HESA staff have been working on the development of proposals for change. Also represented was the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), as well as the National Planners Group, British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG) and the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA). Colleagues representing the Universities Safety and Health Association (USHA) were also involved in order to facilitate the proposed integration of Health & Safety and Fire Safety data items in to the EMS record.

1) Proposed revisions to EMS data definitions

Colleagues are invited to consider the proposed revised EMS record for implementation 2012/13.

In this spreadsheet, the proposed changes to existing definitions and any new definitions can be viewed alongside the current (2011/12) EMS definitions which have been included for reference. A brief description of any change is also provided. While firm proposals have been drafted for a majority of definitions, HESA wishes to seek the views of the sector on a small number of issues.

In addition to commenting on the general proposals detailed in the spreadsheet, colleagues are invited to consider the following specific proposals and issues:

a) Repairs and Maintenance costs (formerly D33 Maintenance costs): The proposal is to take the maintenance costs directly from the HESA Finance Statistics Return (FSR) in order to align the two collections, acknowledging that this may mean some change to the figure used in EMS. Are colleagues content with this approach? The proposed changes extends to removing the split between buildings and grounds - would colleagues want to provide this through EMS but based on the FSR figure?

b) Energy consumption (formerly D38a) - A number of fuel types have been added as HESA is aware that HEIs are using these energy sources. Are these additions sufficient or should others be added? A more granular level of energy cost data (formerly D31) is not needed to calculate carbon emissions but it may be good to align to ensure that the costs captured cover all the fuels that are used to calculate carbon emissions. Do colleagues have a view?

c) Fuel used in HEI-owned vehicles (formerly D38a.C01g) - This has been expanded in the proposals to collect fuel types. Does this cover all fuel types used by HEIs?

d) D38c scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions (Energy use) (Formerly D38c Energy emissions) -  Is a total for each fuel type required by HEIs?

e) It has been proposed that Security and porterage costs (formerly D61) no longer be collected as a combined data item. Instead it has been suggested that Security costs be collected separately, with totals for each of non-residential and residential. There are a number of different options for the reporting of porterage:

i)      As a separate data item

ii)     Combined with Central post room and internal distribution services costs (formerly D62)

iii)    Apportioned between Central post room and internal distribution services costs (formerly D62) and Internally-incurred property management costs (formerly D35)

In all cases there would be separate totals for non-residential and residential. Colleagues are invited to indicate the option they consider to be most appropriate.

f) It is proposed that additional data items be added to Gross internal area and Net internal area to record space for dedicated commercial use. It is intended that this include both separate sites or buildings and commercial space within mixed-use buildings. Costs related to this space should be excluded throughout the EMS record. This will provide an indication of the amount of commercial space that each HEI has and inform any decision about the value of the collection of more detailed commercial space data in the future. Colleagues are invited to comment on these proposals.

Health & Safety and Fire Safety data

Health & Safety and Fire Safety data items are currently collected from HEIs once a year by USHA (Universities Safety and Health Association (http://www.usha.org.uk/).  Currently, a significant majority (but not all) of HEIs return Health and Safety and Fire Safety data to USHA and USHA facilitates in the collation, analysis and dissemination of KPIs within the HE sector.

From 2012/13, it is proposed that these data will be collected by HESA, on behalf of USHA. USHA approached HESA to take on the responsibility for collecting the Health & Safety and Fire Safety data in order to improve the quality and to raise the profile of the data. It is HESA's view that this data is most sensibly collected alongside EMS.

All data items, and not a sub-set, currently collected as part of Health & Safety and the complete set of Fire Safety (recently reviewed) data items will be collected by HESA. If added to the EMS record, none of the Health and Safety or Fire Safety data items will be mandatory; some of the data items are already reported (mandatory) to HSE as part of the RIDDOR process and this will continue.

The collection of this data would be brought in line with the EMS reporting year which is the academic year (currently the data relates to the calendar year).

Colleagues are invited to indicate if Health & Safety and Fire Safety data should be returned to HESA as part of the EMS record.

Colleagues should take note of the following new area of reporting which will be included in the EMS record from 2012/13.

Scope 3 carbon emissions data

Feedback to the HEFCE consultation on a carbon reduction target and strategy for higher education in England  (www.hefce.ac.uk/lgm/sustain/carbon/) demonstrated support for the development of appropriate measurement tools for scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions that are a consequence of the activities of the organisation, but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the organisation, for example, business travel, commuting, procurement, waste and water. In January 2011 HEFCE commissioned work to assist in measuring scope 3 emissions from HEIs and one of the objectives of this work was to produce definitions for measuring scope 3 emissions at institutional level for use within EMS from 2012/13.

Therefore, from 2012/13, there are new EMS definitions relating to scope 3 carbon emissions covering business travel, commuter travel, procurement (supply chain) waste and water.  These data items have been integrated into the EMS record and any existing data items adjusted if affected by the introduction of these new scope 3 definitions.

2) Referencing

As part of the agreement not to make any substantive changes for two years, HESA inherited the referencing for data items from IPD. HESA recognises that the referencing system has been outgrown as a consequence of expansion of and change to EMS since its inception. HESA proposes to move to an alternative referencing system from 2012/13 which will allow for logical inclusion of proposed additions and tidying-up of the current structure, while allowing space for future expansion.

In order to inform the development of a new structure, HESA would like to understand the importance to HEIs of the current referencing (e.g. D38, D39) and the uses made of it. It may be sensible to move away from numerical referencing because it does not easily allow for additions and changes within the structure. Is the sequential ordering of definitions important to HEIs, meaning that new definitions need to be added in a certain place?

Colleagues are asked to indicate the importance of the current referencing.

3) Ratios

It is inevitable that some of the proposed outcomes of the review, where definitions have been changed or removed, will have an impact on the existing ratios. The current EMS ratios will be updated to reflect any changes and a number of new ratios will be identified.

Based on the proposed revised content, colleagues are invited to indicate any ratios that they would find useful. Also colleagues are invited to indicate which of the current set of ratios are no longer required.

Responding to the consultation

Colleagues should respond to the consultation by email to consult@hesa.ac.uk, particularly addressing the specific questions below. Please attach to your email a copy of the spread sheet to which you have added your comments on the detail of the definitions in column N.

Comments should be forwarded to HESA no later than Friday 30 March.

The following is for information and a response is not required.

4) Calculations 

The EMS web forms currently perform a number of calculations during data entry; most of these involve adding together several entered or calculated values. The results of all of the current in-form calculations can be overridden during data entry, allowing entry of totals that could not otherwise be calculated or to allow institutions to supply calculated values that are known to be true but differ from the automatically calculated values.

Additional calculations to reflect the proposed revised EMS record content will be included in the web form where formulas can be agreed. The current approach of allowing totals to be overridden will apply to any new calculations.

5) Conversions

At present institutions are responsible for undertaking the conversions relating to a handful of data items, namely energy emissions and waste mass. HESA intends to take responsibility for undertaking some carbon emission conversions. This would ensure that the same interpretation of the conversion is being applied and so be confident of more consistent data. It will also enable sector level carbon data to be updated when the carbon conversion factors are updated by Defra/DECC leading to more meaningful trend analysis. With the introduction of the scope 3 carbon emissions data items there will be additional conversion work necessary. HESA will be responsible for the water and wastewater (scope 3) conversions, however it is intended that institutions take responsibility for the travel and waste conversions (scope 3). These are more complex because of the granularity of data that HESA would need to collect in order to apply the conversion factors.

The full list of conversion responsibilities for the revised EMS record is:

6) Mandatory data items

When HESA took over the responsibility for the EMS collection for 2009/10, a small number of data items became mandatory for institutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including those relating to carbon emissions. This was to enable the sector to meet its carbon reduction reporting requirements and facilitate the production of consistent time series.

Current understanding is that the mandatory data items will not change, with the exception of Functional suitability Total non-residential figures now no longer mandatory for HEIs in Wales. 

There are some new mandatory data items relating to Scope 3 carbon emissions reporting.

7) Record name

As part of this review, HESA would like to take the opportunity to bring the name of the EMS return in line with other HESA returns and therefore proposes that in future the Estates Management Statistics record be known as the Estates record.

Next steps

Impact analysis of the proposed changes set out above will be undertaken by HESA colleagues during the consultation period and will be considered along with the analysis of the consultation responses. This impact analysis will be undertaken to ensure that any proposed changes are technically feasible and are compatible with HESA policy and products.

Following collation of the responses to this consultation and further discussion within the Review Group, recommendations for change will be presented to HESA Board in May.

The revised EMS record for 2012/13 will be published at the end of June.