Performance measures | External Research

Performance Measures

Updated: 27 Jan 2021

Data the Commission uses to assess the performance of the UK’s infrastructure systems and the services they provide.

Published: 14 Dec 2018 Tagged: Design & FundingDigital & DataEnergy & Net ZeroEnvironmentRegulation & ResilienceTransportWater & Floods

Summary

The Commission’s Infrastructure Performance Measures provide a framework to assess the performance of the UK’s infrastructure systems and the services they provide.

The performance measures are broken down into different domains which look at specific aspects of performance in a way that can be consumed and interpreted for a variety of uses. These domains are as follows: volume of consumption, everyday resilience, quality of user experience, environment and cost. This information is important as it provides a starting point for assessing infrastructure needs and allows for performance to be monitored over time with potential to be compared across sectors and between countries.

For further information about the NIC’s Infrastructure Performance Measures, please refer to the technical annex accompanying this dataset – Technical annex: Measuring infrastructure performance

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Volume of consumption

What is the scale of infrastructure service use?

Volume measures detail how much infrastructure services are used. They do not indicate performance by themselves and are primarily for scale and context, but are useful in conjunction with other performance measures where total levels are important.

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Everyday Resilience

How reliable are our infrastructure sectors?

Resilience data captures the ability of infrastructure to continue to function effectively in the face of challenges. Everyday resilience covers common disruptions to infrastructure services.

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Environment

How do the infrastructure sectors compare in the emissions they produce each year?

Environment captures measures that indicate the level of greenhouse gas emissions that are emitted by different infrastructure sectors.

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Quality of user experience

How satisfied are people with infrastructure services?

Quality of user experience focuses on users’ experience of final infrastructure services, and whether those services meet or exceed their expectations.

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Cost

How much do we pay for our infrastructure services?

Cost indicates the affordability of infrastructure services to households, businesses and the public sector.

Volume of Consumption

What is the scale of infrastructure service use?

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Transport: Rail

How far are people in Great Britain travelling each year by train? (Passenger km)
How far is freight in Great Britain travelling each year by train? (Tonne km)

Source: Office of Rail and Road - Passenger Rail Usage (June 2020), Freight Rail Usage and Performance 2019-20 Q4 Statistical Release (June 2020). Note: Graph showing the number of billion kilometres travelled by passengers and freight each year via rail in Great Britain. Rail tonne kilometre data has been converted from financial to calendar years. Rail tonne kilometre values after 1998 are the summed values of the quarterly data. Rail passenger kilometres are the number of franchised passenger kilometres travelled (billions). This data does not include Heathrow Express, Eurostar, underground or light rail services.

Transport: Road

How far are people in Great Britain travelling each year by road? (Passenger km)
How far is freight travelling each year via roads in Great Britain? (Tonne km)

Source: Department for Transport - Transport Statistics Great Britain (Dec 2019), Road Freight Statistics (July 2020). Note: Graph showing the number of billion kilometres travelled by passengers and freight each year via roads in Great Britain. Road passenger kilometres include buses and coaches, cars, vans and taxis, motorcycles and pedal cycles.

Energy

How much energy (gas and electricity) does each household use each year in the UK?

Source: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - Energy Consumption in the UK (July 2019). Note: Graph showing the average megawatt hours of energy (gas and electricity) per year that is consumed by households in the UK.

Water

How much water does each person use on average, every day in England and Wales?

Source: Ofwat (1992/93 to 2010/11), Consumer Council for Water (2010/11 to 2016/17), Discover Water (2016/17 - 2018/19). Note: Graph showing the average daily water consumption in litres per day per person in England and Wales. Methodology changes may affect comparisons over time.

Digital - Data

How much data is consumed each year in the UK?

Source: Ofcom - Connected Nations (Dec 2018). Note: Graph showing the amount of fixed and mobile data consumed in petabytes for each year in the UK. Data corresponds to the amount of wireless internet content delivered to devices.

Digital - Voice minutes

How many minutes of voice calls are made each year in the UK?

Source: Ofcom - The Communications Market (2019). Note: Graph showing the quantity of fixed and mobile voice minutes that take place each year in the UK. Data corresponds to the number of minutes of talk time completed in the year.

Environment

How do the infrastructure sectors compare in the emissions they produce each year?

Environment captures measures that indicate the level of greenhouse gas emissions that are emitted by different infrastructure sectors.

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Sector Emissions

How much million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent are emitted by the transport, energy, solide waste and water & wastewater sectors each year in the UK?

Source: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics (Feb 2020), UK greenhouse gas emissions by Standard Industrial Classification (July 2020). Note: Graph showing territorial greenhouse gas emissions from transport, energy, solid waste and water & wastewater each year in the UK, given in million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport include emissions from: aviation, road vehicles, railway, shipping, military and aircraft support vehicles. Emissions from energy include power station supply and other energy supply. Emissions from solid waste includes landfill, waste incineration, composting, anaerobic digestion and mechanical biological treatment. Emissions from water & wastewater include natural water; water treatment and supply services and sewerage services; sewage sludge.

Reduction in sector emissions since 1990

How much million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent are emitted by the transport, energy, solide waste and water & wastewater sectors each year in the UK?

Everyday Resilience

How reliable are our infrastructure services?

Resilience data captures the ability of infrastructure to continue to function effectively in the face of challenges. Everyday resilience covers common disruptions to infrastructure services.

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Transport

What is the additional time (%) required on individual road sections to ensure on time arrival when compared with free flow travel times?

Source: Department for Transport - Road Congestion and Travel Times (Sept 2020). Note: Graph outlining travel time reliability as a percentage for road journeys in the UK each year. Reliability is calculated using the Planning Time Index (PTI) measure. This measure presents the additional time needed on individual road sections (broadly between adjacent junctions) to ensure on time arrival when compared with free flow travel times. The Department for Transport publish monthly travel time reliability data. Annual averages were calculated by the Commission.

Energy

How frequently are electricity and gas services disrupted on average each year in Great Britain?

Source: Ofgem - Various reports on performance of the distribution and transmission system. Note: Graph showing the average minutes lost per customer (Gas) and interruptions per 100 customers (electricity) in Great Britain. Methodology changed in 2001.

Water & Wastewater

How many properties flooded each year (per 10,000 connected to sewerage) in England and Wales?

Source: Commission calculations using water company data provided to Ofwat, Water UK and Discover Water. Note: Graph showing the number of properties that are flooded per 10,000 connected to sewerage in England and Wales each year. Methodology changes may affect comparisons over time.

Water & Wastewater

How many minutes each year have properties in England and Wales lost access to water?

Source: Discover Water. Note: Average minutes lost per property per year, based on loss of supply events over 3 hours or longer.

Quality of User Experience

How satisfied are people with infrastructure services?

Quality of user experience focuses on users’ experience of final infrastructure services, and whether those services meet or exceed their expectations.

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Transport

How satisfied are rail and road users in Britain?

Source: Transport Focus - National Rail Passenger Survey (July 2020), National Road Users Satisfaction Survey (Oct 2019). Note: Graph showing the percentage of users who are satisfied with roads and rail services in England each year.

Energy

Out of ten, how satisfied are UK customers with electricity network operators?

Source: Ofgem - RIIO electricity distribution annual report 2017-18 (March 2019). Note: Satisfaction data for electricity distribution network operators.

Water & wastewater

How satisfied are UK customers with the quality of the water and wastewater services they receive in England and Wales?

Source: Discover Water, Consumer Council for Water - Water Matters Annual Tracking Survey April 2019/March 2020. Note: Graph showing the percentage of satisfied customers in England and Wales for water and wastewater services each year.

Digital

What percentage of 90 second phone calls are completed without interruption?

Source: Ofcom - Connected Nations Update Spring 2020. Note: Graph showing the percentage of 90 second phone calls completed without interruption in the UK each year.

Cost

How much do we pay for our infrastructure services?

Cost indicates the affordability of infrastructure services to households, businesses and the public sector.

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Energy

How much do households spend on average on energy each year in the UK?

Source: Commission calculations using Office for National Statistics Living Costs and Food Survey. Note: Graph showing average annual household spending on energy in 2018/19 prices, using the GDP deflator.

Water

How much is the average annual water and sewerage bill in England and Wales?

Source: Commission calculations using water company data from Ofwat and Waterfacts. Note: Graph showing the average annual water and sewerage bill in England and Wales in 2018/19 prices, using RPI deflator.

Digital

What is the average monthly bill for fixed landline/broadband services and mobile call services in the UK?

Source: Ofcom - Pricing trends for communications services in the UK (Jan 2020). Note: Graph showing the average monthly fixed and mobile bills adjusted for CPI in the UK each year. Average fixed monthly bill is the bundled price of a basket of services typically used, for family households comprising of two adults and two teenage children. The average monthly bill for mobile services excludes the costs from the handsets.

All performance measures data

All of the data we use to measure the performance of the six infrastructure sectors across: volume, resilience, quality, environment and cost.

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Performance measures

Report by JBA Consulting on developing infrastructure performance measures.

Reports & StudiesNational Infrastructure Assessment

View the study