1. RSS Excellence in Official Statistics
The Future Farming and Environment Evidence Compendium
February 2018
Presented by
Luke Ridley & Jenny Kemp
May 2019
Start off by introducing the pack, what it is and what is was created for:
Following the decision to leave the EU, the UK Government will be solely responsible for domestic agricultural policy for the first time in over 40years. Published alongside Defra’s open consultation on the future of agricultural policy in England, EC was constructed to address a need to clearly and succinctly communicate the evidence required to inform policy, farmers, the public and the media of the current state of agriculture so better decisions can be made on the future of our Countryside and the food we eat.
Farm Economics and Accounts
RSS Excellence in Official Statistics
Award Winners 2018
Food Production
Environmental Land Management

2. Who are we and why did we make the pack?
We provide statistical, economic, and social and natural science evidence (knowledge that informs policy decisions) and monitoring and evaluation of policy outcomes.
By investing time in innovative, high quality and accessible data communication, we help to fulfil our commitments to the Analysis Function’s “Better analysis, better Delivery” Strategy:
Informing the general public about the population, society, economy and culture of the nation, guiding them to make informed decisions.
Demonstrating the relevance of our data to government and the public.
Initially not tied at the Command Paper, part of a larger vision to increase the accessibility and impact of Defra statistics.
We publish hundreds of reports annually, develop impact assessments and build business cases for future farming scenarios. The teams provide a wide range of evidence such as statistical surveys of national farming practices, economic analyses of different future scenarios, farmer behavioural insights, operational research and science/R&D to increase the resilience and productivity of UK agricultural systems.

3. The House of Evidence The Roof Floors Plaster and Paint Walls
Overarching Quality Assurance
Floors
How many “layers”?
Plaster and Paint
Visualisation and Colour coding
Walls
outer and inner
frameworks
The Developer
Internal customer i.e. Policy Colleagues
Doorways Accessibility and internal navigation
Talk through the “House of Evidence” i.e. how did we put the evidence pack together.
The Buyer
External customer– i.e. the Public
Construction Team
Information owners and
Compendium assemblers
Blueprints and Foundations
understanding the needs of the customer
Suppliers and Raw materials
Analysts, data and evidence

4. Blueprints and Foundations – understanding the needs of the customer
5 minutes
Average time spent reading a stats notice
Understanding who the users are, and what evidence is important to them.
The Developer
Internal customer i.e. Policy Colleagues
External Customer
The Buyer – i.e. the Public
80%
of adults in the UK have a low numeracy level (less than GCSE C grade)
Vision of what it could be/needed to be.
Policy and stakeholder engagement
Two layers – to fit in the 4-6min research, then have a detailed base underneath
Subject knowledge awareness, technical awareness of the audience.

5. Construction Team Architect Builders Interior Designer
Information owner, has the over arching vision, and understands how the whole will work, since they have a sweeping overview of the content and the broader landscape that the work will sit within.
Take the raw materials and turn into an actual structure – importance of context, understanding your materials and how they fit together etc.
Take the raw structure and add value through visualisation of the evidence (charts, infographics etc), ensuring accessibility to the user.
Scott Berinato

6. Suppliers and Raw materials
The Roof
Overarching Quality Assurance
Suppliers and Raw materials
How did we compile the evidence across such a wide range of teams?
To compile the evidence in a standardised format, a template was constructed that contained instructions for the information that was needed on each page.
Key Point/
Stat
Context
Chart or Image, with legend.
Key Point/
Stat
Commentary
References

7. Blueprints and Accessibility
Summary Slide
Detailed Slide
Headline Message
Overarching Summary Question
Question for page to answer p
Other text content
Floors - How many “layers”?
Doors – Navigation through the pack
Navigation buttons at the top of each slide. 15
Summary
Headline Message
Farm Economics
Hyperlinked page numbers.
Food Production
Environment
Supporting Information
Vision of what it could be/needed to be.
Policy and stakeholder engagement
Two layers – to fit in the 4-6min research, then have a detailed base underneath
Subject knowledge awareness, technical awareness of the audience.
Icons to rapidly promote understanding of subject matter.
Other text content
Question and answer format
During user testing we found using a question and answer was the most effective way to signpost readers to the key points, and to focus the content of the pages.
How did we use question and answers in the Compendium?

8. Interior Design – Visualisation

10. What next…. ? 2019 Compendium Update to be published on the 16th May
Interest from Policy!
….not just in the evidence, but in the format!
Presentation help for the Consultation Policy Team, including tying in the design of the Future Farming Consultation Roadshow slides for presentation with the style of the Compendium.
And we’d like to announce…
2019 Compendium Update
to be published on the
16th May
Interest from Defra’s Perm Sec to use the format for her briefings.
Subsequent Packs
What came off the back of the EC? More demand for more visual approaches to sharing evidence! Perm Sec interest in the format for briefings Perm Sec interest in the format for briefings
Tiered format “drilling down into the detail”
Hyperlinking within the document
Guidance on how to most effectively gather evidence in a short space of time.
More visual evidence docs in the tiered format:
Farmer Engagement pack DP Mini Pack
- Text heavier documents, thinking of new ways to present social research etc.