Compliance Assessment Scheme – 2010 assessments

What is the Compliance Assessment Scheme?

The scheme is used to assess an operator’s level of compliance with their licence.  Continuous assessment is used throughout a calendar year with the level of compliance being assessed after each inspection, data assessment or environmental event (such as an oil spillage) at a site. This assessment is shown as a compliance level. The compliance levels are; excellent, good, broadly compliant, at risk, poor and very poor. 

Which sites are included in the 2010 assessments?

SEPA’s Compliance Assessment Scheme has been used to assess compliance of Pollution Prevention & Control (PPC) Part A & B licences, waste management activities and larger discharges to water (such as a sewage works).

The Part A licences include the larger industrial processes, landfills and large intensive agriculture sites. Part A sites are regulated for emissions to air, water, land, and noise and energy use. 

The Part B sites are smaller industrial processes such as quarries, cement batching units or small foundries and are regulated for emissions to air only.

The Compliance Assessment Scheme replaces the Operator Performance Assessment scheme (OPA) which was previously used to assess compliance. SEPA published OPA results for PPC Part A sites each year from 2004 to 2008. There is no direct translation from OPA to the Compliance Assessment Scheme as the assessment process is quite different.

The new scheme has been introduced as it establishes a common assessment framework for all the principal sites that SEPA regulates. It has been designed to be fair and consistent and to allow SEPA to target its resources more effectively on poorly performing sites. 

How does this relate to subsistence charging?

There was no link to charging in 2009 however there will be for PPC sites only in 2010 and waste & water sites in 2011.  PPC sites that receive an excellent rating will receive a 5% reduction in subsistence charge.  Those sites that get a very poor will receive a 5% increase in subsistence charge.  All sites currently on SEPA’s monitoring programme are subject to subsistence charging, this is based on the polluter pays principle.  For further information on charging refer to SEPA’s charging webpage